Barrichello: This is my Best Year

Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello believes this season is his best since joining Ferrari, three seasons ago.

"So far, I would say it is my best year since I joined Ferrari," Barrichello said. "I feel that I am very competitive and very calmly getting on with my job, while enjoying myself very much. It's just that, until Imola, I had nothing to show for it. I am very happy with the way things are going and the team is happy with my performance."

Speaking about the San Marino Grand Prix, where he scored his first points of the season while finishing second, Barrichello said: "It was above all a sense of relief. When you go through a few races without scoring, you get this feeling that you really have got to score. But I was not worried, because apart from the fact the season up to then had been disappointing in terms of points, I have had a very good year.

"Imola was my first race weekend with F2002. From now on I am only thinking about improving. But we must not think the Championship will be easy from now on. Imola was a very good race, because Bridgestone made a step forward with the tyres and the new car is excellent. I am driving the best car I have ever driven and I have never felt as happy with my car at Imola as I did this year. I could really push all the time. It was just a pity that I lost a place to Ralf Schumacher at the start."

Barrichello is currently on a vacation at his home in Brazil, after more than three months of intensive testing. "Since January, I have been testing all the time, so the team said to me and Michael [Schumacher] that we were going to have a break.

"It is for situations like this that the team took on an additional test driver this year. It is the right idea, because I have done four days of testing in Barcelona already, so I am prepared for the Spanish Grand Prix and at least I am getting a short break. The important thing is that the team is not stopping development work."