Confident Rubens explains pace

Schumacher has taken eight of the nine victories this year while Barrichello has failed to match the German's pace and move up to the top of the podium. This all changed at Indianapolis in particular, with the Brazilian dominating the action all weekend. In the end he had to settle for the runners-up spot after Schumacher got by following the first Safety Car period.

"It was a tremendous race, the car was good all weekend," Barrichello said. "I pushed all race long and even when I had more fuel than Michael I was able to do similar lap times to those he was doing before refuelling, so I knew I had a chance to catch him. But there are too many "ifs" and I guess it was just not to be this time."

Barrichello has attributed this new-found pace to a change in driving style and having a breakthrough in terms of setting up his F2004.

"Since the first time I drove F1 I switched to right foot braking which is what everyone did at the time," he explained. "Around 1994 to '95 when left foot braking came in, I tried it but did not like it that much and had problems with it, so went back to right foot braking. Then, this year I tried using my left foot again. I felt good about it and I raced like this for the first three or four races of this season.

"But then, I got the impression I was not really on the pace and began to doubt this style of braking. When you doubt something it becomes unclear, so I decided to try going back to the right foot. Now, I am back to setting up the car better for myself and I am using my left foot more than in the past. I had a very good test at Silverstone before the race in Canada, so it put me into a stronger phase and I found something better in terms of how to set up the car and how to drive."

Barrichello is currently 18 points behind Schumacher in the drivers' championship at the half-way point.