Brawn: Barrichello Deserves Victory

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said on Saturday that he is hoping for Rubens Barrichello to win the Brazilian Grand Prix after seeing him take pole while his teammate Michael Schumacher struggled for pace.

Barrichello, who also started from pole last year, is seeking to win on home soil and become the first Brazilian to score points in a race at Interlagos since the death of his hero Ayrton Senna in 1994.

Brawn believes that after a season spent in the shadows of World Champion German Schumacher the 32-year-old Brazilian deserves to be the Ferrari in front on Sunday.

"I hope he does win here," said Brawn. "He has worked very hard this year, he has worked very well here, he has been very strong all weekend and he deserves it. He has the final step to go but that was a great run in qualifying."

Sao Paulo-born Barrichello has only finished once in 11 races at the Interlagos circuit and lost out on victory last year when his car stopped while he was in the lead. Brazilian drivers have a terrible history in their home race and if Barrichello wins he will be the first home hero to do so since the late Senna won for McLaren in 1993.

Barrichello will be the sole Ferrari out at the front at the start because his World Champion teammate qualified eighth and dropped ten places following an engine change after a crash in practice.

But Brawn and Schumacher are hoping that the rainstorm that is heading for Sao Paulo arrives on time to soak the track and give the German the advantage of unpredictable conditions in the race.

"With Michael qualifying so far back we were a bit desperate for Rubens to do well and he held up the team," said Brawn. "I would think Michael is frustrated and I think he is praying for rain tomorrow."

Schumacher left his team with just two-and-a-half hours to repair his car when he crashed into a tyre barrier at high speed at turn six after losing control at the end of the final practice session.

But the team had to resort to using the spare car and Brawn said: "With this format of regulations if you make a mistake like that, even in free practice, the race then becomes very difficult.

"The engine may not have been damaged there was a lot of extinguisher sprayed around it because there was a fire and we felt on balance it wasn't worth risking because it is a safety issue.

"It is not an easy track to overtake on and some of the teams further back are still pretty quick. From the qualifying you can see we have different strategies for the cars so maybe his strategy will help him recover a bit."

Ferrari have won 15 of the 17 races so far this year and will secure the record number of wins in a season outright if either Barrichello or Schumacher manage to cross the line first here Sunday.