Interview: Bernoldi Relives His Moment of Glory

Enrique Bernoldi remains unrepentant a year on from the race that got him noticed in Formula One.

The young Brazilian stood out in Monaco last year when he kept David Coulthard's far quicker McLaren behind him for 41 of the 78 laps of the sport's most glamorous Grand Prix.

Coulthard had been on pole but, after stalling on the formation lap, had to fight his way back from the rear. And Bernoldi refused to oblige.

"People took notice that I was in Formula One," the Arrows driver told Reuters in an interview ahead of next weekend's Grand Prix around the narrow streets of the Mediterranean principality.

"My car was not really competitive last year and if you always start 16th, 17th or 18th the people don't really notice you. I think that was the first positive step that I did in Formula One."

Bernoldi has not finished a race this year nor scored a point in his 23 starts. But he does have a photograph from the Malaysian Grand Prix to prove that even now he is not easily intimidated.

It shows his orange Arrows overtaking Michael Schumacher's scarlet Ferrari - and there are not many drivers who can claim to have done that in a year that has seen Schumacher win five out of six races.

Crucified

The four times World Champion overtook the Arrows but made a mistake on exiting the corner. For the Brazilian, Schumacher was fair game and he seized the chance to move ahead once again. It may have been one of those 'blink and you miss it' moments - a curious incident meriting a footnote, but it was big for Bernoldi.

"If I had overtaken Schumacher and nobody saw it, I would have gone home right away," he said. "I would have said: 'Now I give up'. I had an 80 percent chance of getting it wrong.

"He was in a quicker car than mine and he can brake very late. He is a very good driver and I knew that if I tried the manoeuvre and touched him, I would be crucified. People would hate me. So I had a lot to think about.

"He was confident against me, I was fighting with Schumacher for the first time. But we are here for racing, just because he's Michael Schumacher doesn't mean I can't overtake him. So I thought I would pass him back.

"He made a joke afterwards: 'I made a mistake, maybe I'm getting old,'" smiled the Brazilian. "He was nice - I never had any problem with him. It may never happen again. But I have a picture of both cars side by side so one day I can show it to my kids."

Bernoldi is unlikely to have a similar chance against Schumacher in Monte Carlo, a race the German knows blindfolded and which he has won five times. But if he does, he will not hesitate to take it.

"I will try but maybe he would try to pass," he said, clearly rating Schumacher well ahead of Coulthard in the overtaking league. "I think so. My hero was (Ayrton) Senna and I'm sure that if Senna had been behind me, two laps would have been all I could have held him for."

Better Car

"Since last time in Monaco I have learned more and I think I have become more competitive than I was last year," added Bernoldi.

He certainly has a better car than last year, with the Cosworth engine giving Arrows the grunt they lacked, and a tougher teammate with Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Dutchman Jos Verstappen last season described Bernoldi as the worst teammate he had ever had, the sort of remark that makes sharing a garage difficult. The Brazilian said he had no hard feelings, particularly as he was still racing and the Dutchman was not.

"I have another level to compare myself with now so I am learning a lot and improving each time that I go in the car," he said. "Jos was a different character, actually I have nothing against him. But they are completely different.

"At the end of the day I was quicker than him so maybe what he said was not quite right. But he was very good at the start and for overtaking in the first few laps."

Bernoldi is one of three Brazilians on the grid, with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello and Sauber's young rookie Felipe Massa, and feels he is the least appreciated.

There is less than three years between him and Massa yet they might as well be different generations, with neither having raced the other until this year.

Bernoldi came to Europe when he was 16 and was considered one of his country's brightest prospects until a car crash in Brazil put him in a coma for several days. When he came back he struggled and might not have reached Formula One without the backing of sponsor Red Bull.

"What annoys me is that some people seem to forget or are unkind in what they say about me," he said. "Like in Imola, where I overtook (Mika) Salo, (Giancarlo) Fisichella, both Jaguars. There was very little other overtaking and nobody noticed.

"But Felipe overtook (Jarno) Trulli, who had a car problem, and everybody made a big thing out of it. Sometimes it's a little bit annoying."