We've got a good group of people working in difficult circumstances

We've got a good group of people working in difficult circumstances. Top people wouldn't be able to exist here."It's hard for the team sometimes because they don't understand why we haven't got the bits we'd like and why perhaps they have to work late because bits have come late, and that's because we haven't had the cash flow at the time and we've held back."They understand they can't stay in the best hotels but we would never go over the top, anyway If we had the money we'd spend it on what matters We'd go testing regularly, for instance, like the big teams. Benetton- Renault head the constructors' championship with 48 points; Pacific-Ford's Bertrand Gachot and Andrea Montermini go into Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone with none.Wiggins said: "We didn't come in expecting to win and it sticks in my throat when people say we underestimated Formula One. Pacific are endeavouring to raise a budget of $10m (pounds 6.5m) for the championship; leading teams have $50m or more. They have confirmed their ambition by taking on additional staff and now have a workforce of 37 - the leading teams have more than 200. He accepts it is the brutal way of Formula One, even the world. The message is clear: "If you're good enough, you'll make it, if you're not, you won't, and no one is going to miss you."Pacific clung on last season, concentrating on generating sufficient funds and a half-decent car for this year Wiggins and two colleagues dug deep into their own pockets.

To make the race any driver will have to have a best time within seven per cent of the pole position man.Wiggins knows there is scant concern or sympathy for the small teams' plight, but then he asks none. He is the boss of the East Anglia- based Pacific team, who are at least still winning their battle for survival. Last winter Larrousse gave up their fight, as did Lotus, and although that long-revered name features on the outfits of Pacific's personnel, it seems the clout went under with the team.Only last month, Simtec, the other hopeful British operation launched along with Pacific at the beginning of 1994, succumbed to irresistible financial pressures, while Minardi, of Italy, are struggling frantically to keep their heads above water.The structure of travel and equipment concessions rewards the more successful teams and, from next year, stringent qualifying requirements will squeeze still more life from the lower end of the grid. At this end of the grand prix spectrum the philosophy is as simple as the lifestyle: "We don't think of winning - we think first of surviving." The words come from Keith Wiggins. Venture down the pit lane, away from the glare of the top teams and the famous drivers, beyond the gaggle of celebs, starchy VIPs and giggling hangers-on, and you may ultimately arrive in Formula One's twilight zone. There are several injuries to keep abreast of, and you need to know which pundits are blaming the team, and which are blaming the pitch, and which are blaming each other Where did you say that news-stand was?.

No need to get directions to the town's one international newsstand, only to find that all it has in English is a yellowing copy of the European.On second thoughts, it is important to stay in touch. We have done the impossible - booked a two-week holiday that doesn't overlap with a single minute of a Test match. No danger of getting on the plane to find the captain saying: "And if there are any cricket fans on board, I'm afraid I have bad news".No need to sit on the beach with the radio tuned to short wave, hurriedly wiping the sun cream off your fingers so you can chase the World Service on its bewildering course along the dial. The reality is that a summer holiday is a contradiction in terms.