Barrichello blames understeer for lethargy
Ferrari number two Rubens Barrichello says that unexpected understeer was the cause of his lacklustre qualifying performance for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours
The Brazilian will start Sunday's race from eighth on the grid in his Ferrari F2003-GA after struggling with its handling today. His team-mate Michael Schumacher was third fastest.
"I am very disappointed," said Barrichello. "On my quick lap, the car was handling differently to the way it had done in the warm-up, picking up a lot of understeer. All day, I had been the quickest in the first sector, but in qualifying no less than four drivers were quicker than me.
"Now I have to hope for a good result in the race, but it will be hard," he added. "So far we have had a very reliable car and we will be counting on that."
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said: "Naturally we are disappointed with the way qualifying went today. It is clear that we have to improve the performance level of our package."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Why illustrious racing dads aren't always an advantage for F1 hopefuls
Ranking the top 10 winless Formula 3000 drivers
The rollercoaster ride of West Surrey Racing's 40 years
FIA still chasing answers over bizarre Shanghai F1 grass fires
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Hamilton expects to lose positions if F1 China sprint is dry
Verstappen 'deserves' fourth in China F1 sprint qualifying with wet struggles
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments