He had also set the fastest lap time in pre-event testing at Silverstone during the final week of June, almost a second in front of team-mate David Coulthard, and a further 0.2 seconds ahead of Schumacher.
Po slabšem začetku sezone je Schumacher dosegel tri zaporedne zmago pred to dirko in je tudi v Silverstone prišel kot glavni favorit za zmago.