Luciano Burti Q&A

Luciano Burti has had a tough time in recent weeks, having faced a difficult baptism in Melbourne. He crashed on the Friday and then had a second much larger incident when he went off after a suspension failure on Saturday. He still finished the race, a performance he repeated in Malaysia, but all the while he's had to put up with speculation about his future, thanks to the arrival of Pedro de la Rosa as Jaguar test driver. Despite the pressures of racing in front of his home crowd, he has had a good weekend so far at Interlagos, and he pushed team mate Eddie Irvine to the limit in qualifying. Adam Cooper spoke to him

"I think it was OK. I did lose two-tenths on the last run on the last corner, but I don't want to use that as an excuse, because everybody can say the same thing. But anyway, I'm stronger and I feel more competitive, the lap times have shown that, and I'm getting closer to Eddie. That's the idea, to be battling with him. He's one of the best guys out there, so it's good to be pushing him hard, and I hope it gets even better in the next few races."

"It's very challenging. It's a little bit bumpy, which is not nice, but it's better now than what it was last year for example. But it's a very challenging track, and I'm pretty sure it's one of the best on the calendar."

"For sure, there has been too much gossip and too many things said about myself, and it's just good to prove all of them wrong with a good performance on the track. I know that 14th is not a position that I can be proud of. The performance of the team is not yet at the limit, but like I said I am quite close to Eddie, and had the chance of outqualifying him today, and that's the best answer that I can give to anyone.

"It's pretty good. It shows that you can do it. Eddie is a lot more professional than most people think, so it's not easy to beat him. But I'm getting closer, I'm feeling more relaxed, I'm feeling more confident. Suddenly I know better what I want from the car. It's just the whole thing coming together. I'm still not there yet, and I'm pretty sure there's room for improvement."

"Usually I'm OK. I get tired and I sleep very well. I never have any problems with that. But probably I'm a bit more nervous and more anxious than at a normal race."

"It's funny because I'm not used to it. It's OK. In Brazil I have more attention, but most of it goes to Rubens anyway. So we don't get that much. For him it's quite hard, but for me, Enrique and Tarso it's not so bad."

"We were just joking because Rubens likes it when I fake his face on the podium when he won in Hockenheim last year! It looks very similar..."