Barrichello Defends Pre-Qualifying Tactics

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello defended his antics after admitting he had deliberately run off the track to waste time in today's qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

Barrichello's Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher also smoked his wheels and spun in what would have been a rare mistake for a driver who has qualified on the front row eight times this year.

But it soon became apparent that it was all a strategic ruse when others made no attempt to disguise what they were up to.

As the fastest cars in the world crawled to the line, drivers vying to be slower than their rivals, the governing FIA's campaign to slow cars down on safety grounds took on an ironic hue.

"We had to go out and we had a plan to slow down," said Barrichello. "There was a strategy to it. I did run wide deliberately at Vale to get a slower time in pre-qualifying. It seemed a nicer way of doing it than just going slowly.

"I don't see anything wrong with what I and many other drivers did. It is the result of the qualifying format. In a situation like this you have to be selfish and think of your strategy. I think we need to make the format better.

"I am happy with my second place, although my car started to slide in the final sector which is where I lost pole. I think I can have a very strong race as the car is good on full tanks and the Bridgestone tyres are performing well."

German Schumacher, looking to score his tenth win of the season, also admitted he had driven poorly on purpose.

"It was an interesting session and for strategic reasons we chose not to look too good in pre-qualifying," said the German. "However, in qualifying the conditions remained much the same and I had a good lap.

"Of course, being second and fourth is not the ideal situation, but we will have to wait for the race to see how things work out. We know it is a long race tomorrow and our car and Bridgestone tyres are good over a race distance.

"Actually we were right about the rain, but the circuit seemed to be in the wrong place!"