Fuel Rig Cost Barrichello Victory, Says Todt

A refuelling rig problem probably cost Rubens Barrichello victory at the Italian Grand Prix, according to Ferrari team boss Jean Todt.

"Rubens drove a really great race and he could have won," said the sporting director after the Brazilian finished second behind the Williams of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.

"Unfortunately a problem with the re-setting of the refuelling rig, at the moment of his first pit stop, cost him around seven seconds, which was probably enough to deprive him of the victory."

Barrichello had led after overtaking Montoya on the ninth lap and stayed ahead until the 20th when he pitted. Later in the race he regained second place by overtaking Ralf Schumacher's Williams but he finished 5.175 seconds adrift of Montoya.

Barrichello agreed he had lost too much time on that first pit stop but he also said at a news conference after the race that it had been one of his best weekends of the year. Todt also claimed that German Michael Schumacher, who clinched his fourth world title last month and finished fourth on Sunday, had not been himself.

It was only the third time in the last 21 races that he had ended up outside the top two. The German driver, who had a big crash in testing at Monza in July, questioned before the race whether it should go ahead given the tragic events unfolding elsewhere.

"As for Michael, he drove a good race in a professional manner," Todt said. "For various reasons, his heart wasn't in it at this track. We would have liked to celebrate our two world titles in front of all our fans but world events meant this would have been inappropriate. For us this race was just another round out of the 17."