Post-Race Press Conference - Japanese GP

Q. You had to win this race and you won it from the pole, but it was difficult in those early laps?

Rubens Barrichello:

It was always very difficult because we had a situation that I think helped our competition. It was not damp but some sort of small water in some corners. Going into Spoon, the right hander (before Spoon), especially on the first laps where Montoya overtook me, my car was very twisty so it was hard to keep control and I almost lost it on the first lap. It was difficult and I was praying, even though everyone knows that I love the wet, I was praying for it not to rain because it was our opponent. So basically I fought all the way, hoping that it wasn't going to rain, plus the fact that my visor was really fogged and in all the pit stops, they had to put rubber to keep it open, because it was very difficult. So I had to keep my concentration and I was pushing right through to the end because if we had a situation where it was going to be wet for three laps I knew they could catch me three seconds a lap so I needed to push all the way through.

Q. Rubens, a huge day for Ferrari â€" Michael has clinched his sixth Drivers' World Championship and this is the fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship you've been a part of at Ferrari.

RB:

And I'm so proud because even though all these years Michael has been the one I've been helping for the Constructors' I've been there as well, so to be the fourth year consecutively in Ferrari and win that championship and to clinch this victory â€" because I think Suzuka is definitely a driver's circuit â€" so for me to be winning this race makes me a proud man.

Q. Kimi, you were almost there. How big an impact do you think that shunt yesterday have on your weekend?

Kimi Raikkonen:

No, of course it didn't help us but it's past now and thanks to David for letting me use his car. I tried to get it back in good shape but I think we were a bit unlucky with qualifying yesterday. The last five guys or whatever it was got a little bit of rain and it didn't help us. But, you know, we got second place again. It's not very nice to finish second almost every time but we were just not quick enough to win the title this year. But at least we didn't lose because of bad driving.

Q. David, that was an interesting weekend for you â€" you had to swap cars halfway through the weekend and then obviously, late in the race, you were sitting behind Kimi. But how was the car for you?

David Coulthard:

We never got the full opportunity in qualifying to know exactly where the T-car was relative to the race car, because of the conditions, but in the race I would say the balance, except on the second set of tyres, was pretty good. The second set, for some reason, had a lot of understeer and that was quite difficult for the first eight or nine laps but otherwise I was able to run in clean air and push reasonably hard and try and make a three-stop strategy as best I could.

Interview of Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)

Q. From the Fuji Television Grand Prix of Japan, congratulations to the 2003 World Champion, Michael Schumacher. Michael, you've broken many records in your career, but you've just broken, perhaps, the big one. In 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio won his fifth world championship and now you've won your sixth. Can you just describe your emotions?

Michael Schumacher:

Probably not appropriate, honestly, because it has been a tough year, a tough late stage of the season, and it has been a very tough race, honestly, probably one of my toughest. But I think what is much more worthy of mention, is the team and I can only repeat that every so often because again, today, they have done an incredible job to give both of us a car which we have been competitive with at all times. Rubens has done a fantastic drive, won the Grand Prix, so we won the Constructors' title â€" five in a row, which I think is the first time it has ever happened â€" in big style. Myself, I was a little bit messy today after having a little incident and that's why I said it was one of my toughest races because to come back then and go through the traffic and fight your way through, with all the happenings, with what happened with Da Matta, and Ralf hitting me in the back and so on, it was a very, very strange race and therefore the feelings haven't yet sunk in. I can well feel for the team but I can't feel for myself at the moment. I'm empty and exhausted. I'm just proud of what we've all achieved.

Q. What were you feeling during the race? Were they keeping you informed about where Kimi was lying and, equally, how hard were you going in traffic, with Sato, for example, and again with your brother?

MS:

Obviously I had to go flat out, especially after I lost my nose on lap seven or eight, that was, and from that moment â€" it was in the early stages of the race â€" I knew Montoya was out and I knew the two McLarens were both behind Rubens and you wouldn't know what was going to happen with the weather conditions, with strategy and so on, what could have been the outcome in the end. So I really had to make sure by myself to at least be in eighth position. Thankfully I could rely on Rubens in the late stage of the race but I still had to fight because you never know if the car will finish. We are in Formula One and we have always seen things happening in the past, so you have to think about the worst to be safe and that's what I was trying. The fight with Cristiano and with Ralf and myself in between was quite a tough one and I really had to make sure I stayed and got that eighth position to score the point, just in case.

Q. In the closing laps of the race, when you sitting behind da Matta and wiping your visor as the laps were unwinding, was it difficult to keep you concentration?

MS:

It was difficult for the simple reason that when I had the incident with da Matta in the late stage and Ralf, I locked up so heavily to avoid hitting da Matta that I had a huge flat spot and when you may know what it means to run over those very old stones, those ripple stones (he means cobblestones), that's the way I felt in the car. I almost lost vision down the straight because the vibrations were so huge, and you get concerned and you also have the knowledge that Ralf hit you in the back and you don't know how heavily it was, whether you might get a puncture and lose your eighth position. So there were a lot of thoughts going through (my mind) and you just try to carry your car as safe and as easy and as light to the chequered flag.

Q. Well, you did finish in the points, in eighth place, and you did secure your sixth world championship, your ninth with Ferrari including the Constructors' championship. Can you give us some final thoughts on the team and on those achievements?

MS:

First of all, I think it is very strange for me because most of my championships I have won with a victory and here and now today I am winning a championship with eighth position which is last of the points, but still winning the championship which is a mixed emotion. But what the team has achieved is just fantastic. If you see what has happened at Hockenheim, in Budapest, how many people wrote us off, how many people wrote things about us, outspoken things. And here we are, we're back. We never give up, we're always there, we always fight, and I think that's one of the big strengths of the Ferrari team. Everybody in Ferrari is that way. It's just a huge big family and we are all proud to be a part of it.

Press Conference

Q. Rubens, you really only had a hard time from two people â€" Juan Pablo early on and Fernando Alonso as well â€" so how much of a hard time was it?

RB:

I had a hard time all the way through because even though you think it was 15 seconds or something to Kimi and sometimes to David I felt that if it rained it could ruin everything in one lap so I had to keep on pushing. Okay, we dropped the pace towards the end to be safe but even then I wanted to keep doing high 34s because if it rained on the last lap it was okay but if it rained five laps from the end but did not rain enough to put on wet tyres we might have had a problem. If it rained enough everyone would have had to come into the pits but if we had all stayed on the track it would have been a problem for me. Talking about the beginning, I had a problem, a little problem with warming up the tyres and as I went through turn 12 going to Spoon it was slightly damp, especially for our tyres, so I got sideways and I had to back off and Juan Pablo ran to the outside and overtook me. He was very fast for the first three or four laps but then I was catching up slightly. But then my visor got completely fogged, I couldn't see anything and then I had the problem that somebody had run with a problem on their engine so there was a lot of oil on the track. I almost ran off and Alonso caught me out again so that first stint and the beginning of the second one was quite busy. Afterwards I could run my pace and concentrate on the racetrack.

Q. And Alonso, he was right up behind you.

RB:

Well, thanks to the Ferrari engine we were very fast on the straight so I was relying on that basically. He had fantastic traction out of turn 16, the last chicane, but I was able to keep him behind and quite honestly that was okay, I could do that no problem.

Q. Today, obviously, you have helped your team to win the constructors' championship and your team-mate has made history as well. Just give us a few words on their achievements, the team's and also your team-mate's.

RB:

Well, I think I have one of the toughest jobs not because I am here sitting in front of the television or the journalists but sometimes just being a team-mate to Michael makes life difficult, what people write or what people say. So I am proud of what I have achieved this year. Even though I didn't achieve as many points as last year or the position that I finished last year I think it has been a much better year for me, much more competitive. I have been on top all the time and I think I have made a step up. That was really good and so the team did a fantastic job to provide both cars with the reliability and the performance they had. My engineers and my mechanics have all been very good and I think everybody has to be proud of the achievement. It is four years in a row that I am part of the team that has won a lot.

Q. Kimi, you did as much as you could. The car, especially in comparison with David's towards the end, didn't seem to be at its best today.

KR:

No. We have been struggling with set-up a little bit this weekend. We just didn't get it right. The first set of tyres was pretty much okay but then on the second I was struggling quite a lot with the grip. It wasn't like just understeering or oversteering it was everything. It was quite hard, I was pushing as hard as I could but I was just not very quick.

Q. Earlier on you were right up behind Cristiano da Matta. Were you much quicker than him?

KR:

Yeah, I think so, like a second, but they were quite quick in a straight line and I was not getting very good traction out of the last chicane. I always got very close but not quite close enough to try overtaking him into turn one and it cost me quite a lot of time but that is racing and next time we try to get past.

Q. Second in the world championship was not what you were hoping because everyone aims for first. But what are your feelings after this season?

KR:

I think it has been a good season for us and for me. Okay we really had big expectations before the start of the season and I think we have done very well. We have been quite quick and the car has been much better, much more reliable than last year and we have improved a lot. Thanks to the team, they have worked very hard all season, and to David, to everyone. But this year maybe we were consistent but just not up there on the speed and hopefully we can catch up for next year. I think if we can improve as much as we did over the last winter we should be in a good position to fight for all the wins and to have a good chance to win both titles.

Q. David, nice to see you. The car actually seemed to be quicker than Kimi's today.

DC:

Yeah, I think I only had one set of tyres which gave me problems, which was the second set, and I can imagine what Kimi's car felt like if each of his tyres were like that. So we need to understand what exactly caused that problem. But otherwise the other sets allowed me to push and largely I was in clean air so I didn't really have any problems with traffic.

Q. Well, you were behind Kimi a couple of times and also behind Jarno Trulli and Jenson. I thought it was quite a lively race for you in many ways.

DC:

Yeah, but never really in a position to race with anyone so it was just a question of trying to run the strategy and try to be as quick as possible.

Questions From The Floor

Q. Kimi, did the pit-stop strategy affect your car's performance?

KR:

I think we had a good strategy but it is hard to say really whether it would have been quicker with three stops than two stops but I think overall we would not have been as quick as Rubens and it wouldn't have helped much.

Q. Kimi, did you change the strategy during the race after you saw what happened to Michael?

KR:

No, we were planning a two stop anyway. I think they changed it a little bit for David but we were planning this.

Q. Kimi, did you think you were going to be world champion at any moment in the race?

KR:

I guess there was always a chance until we went over the line to finish the race and there have been many times when people have retired on the last lap. We were pushing until then and hoping for the best and you never know. This time it wasn't enough but we try it again next year.

Q. Can we get a reaction from all three of you of what Michael has achieved now? Six titles, 70 wins - that is an incredible achievement isn't it?

RB:

It is. I think we are never going to compare drivers and I think it is impossible to compare Michael to Fangio, to Senna or whoever is in the frame, but I think he moves to history with a lot of achievements and it seems he is going to beat all the ones. I mean, everyone thought that the pole positions, he was so far away three years ago and it is not that far as well I think, so it is such an achievement.

Q. David, Kimi, would you add anything?

(silence)