Barrichello responds to Irvine attack

Irvine was quoted as saying in Italian publication Autosprint: "When we were together at Jordan, Barrichello was a moaner. When I left Jordan he moaned. He arrived at Ferrari and he moaned. He will leave Ferrari and will moan again. He is made like that, he is a moaner."

The Jaguar pilot also suggested that Rubens "is not as fast as Michael, he never was, he never will be."

But Barrichello refused to enter into a war of words with his former colleague.

"We've been team mates, so I'm only too aware of how Eddie likes to take the 'Mick' out of others," said Barrichello. "He might do better to concentrate more on what he's doing at Jaguar, but that's entirely up to him."

He added: "I remember that when I was sat in that car [the Jaguar], when it was white instead of green, I got a lot more points than he has done so far. It is typical of him and he should shut up."

The Brazilian has spent the time between the French and British Grands Prix at home in Brazil, recuperating from a cold.

"When I left France, it took me quite a while to get well, but now I am much better," he said. "When I got to Brazil, I went up to the mountain region, over two hours away from Sao Paulo, where my wife's family have a house and the air is really clean there. It helped me recover quickly. I went there to relax and also to train, as the altitude is ideal for getting fit."

Barrichello says he is looking forward to getting back to business at Silverstone this weekend, and regards Britain as a second home country.

"It's a track I enjoy very much," he said of Silverstone. "I am part of an Italian team, but for much of my career I was with British teams and I have a lot of fans there, so I always look forward to this race. I hear the weather is not very good, but I love the rain so I don't really care. I watched the British motorbike Grand Prix on television from Donington last weekend and I saw the weather was changing for the worst."