Barrichello and Brazilians Fail Again

Rubens Barrichello marked his 150th Formula One race on Sunday with his eighth Brazilian Grand Prix retirement in a row before his disappointed home fans.

No Brazilian has scored a point at Interlagos since three times World Champion Ayrton Senna died in 1994 and Barrichello, driving last year's Ferrari while Michael Schumacher won in the new car, failed again.

But at least the local favourite could console himself with the fact that his was an heroic failure, having charged from eighth place at the start to lead for three laps before a hydraulics problem halted his challenge. Last year he went out after colliding with the Williams of Ralf Schumacher, an accident he was widely blamed for.

"Everything was going well and I managed to get into the lead," said Barrichello of this year's race after jogging back to the pitlane holding his helmet. "I think I could have ended up on the podium. Unfortunately, my car developed an hydraulic problem and I had to retire.

"Despite the fact that I have yet to score points after three races, my motivation remains high, in part because I feel I have shown what I can do. The crowd was fantastic. I'm just sorry I had to wave to them walking back to the pits. I would rather have done it at the end of the race."

Bad Omens

A greater pessimist than Barrichello might have known that the third race of the season was not going his way from the opening day of the weekend. He suffered a puncture in his first practice lap on Friday and was last in the timings for that opening session. He then lost his fastest qualifying time after leaving the pitlane under a red light on Friday.

He could still take solace from the words of Ferrari boss Jean Todt, who congratulated him afterwards for driving an "incredible race".

But his record for 2002 makes painful reading, with a collision at the opening corner in Australia after starting on pole and an engine failure in Malaysia. Other Brazilians, particularly Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi, had precious little comfort.

Bernoldi destroyed his Arrows in a fiery collision in Sunday's morning warm-up that also saw Nick Heidfeld hit the medical car as he tried to avoid the wreckage. He had to race in the spare car instead but suffered a broken rear track-rod, which was fixed, before being ordered to retire for safety reasons when teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen suffered the same problem.

"I've had one hell of a day today," he said. "First the accident this morning, then all the dramas in the race."

Felipe Massa, the youngest man in the race at 20, also failed to finish in his home debut for Sauber after a collision with the Minardi of Australian Mark Webber, who continued while Massa spun out.