Ross Brawn Q&A

"It was a fabulous day. Pole position, get the start, lead from the first lap to the last lap - no one can take it away from you."



"There was a little bit in the middle where I was keeping him posted about what the gap to David was, I was telling him each lap, and you could see that as soon as it got down to a certain level, Michael just picked up the pace and showed he had it under control. That co-incided with David's tyres fading a little bit, so I think Michael had it under control the whole way."



"There was a pace that we wanted him to run for the tyres, but we didn't do anything silly, as you could see. Michael picked the pace up, and he didn't want Rubens breathing all over the back of him, which is natural. So we told Rubens that he had to keep a gap on Michael, because we didn't want him getting too close, because Michael needed to run without any fears of anyone behind him. Once Michael got the first 10-12 laps over with, and the tyres had settled in, then he really opened it up, and did some great laps."



"Yes, 31 was as long as we could go, and DC had one more lap. Because the tyres had been looked after they were very quick at the end, and he had a great in-lap, so he got us that time. Rubens did a very, very good lap at the next round of pit stops, along with David having his glitch which cost him a second or two on the fuel rig, so it all worked out. I don't know what would have happened if David hadn't had a problem with the fuel rig, but there's a lot of ifs in F1, and facts are facts."



"Yes, but we were in a position to pick it up. Rubens did a great job to get back in touch with David. He lost three or four seconds at one stage, but he got back in touch, and he harassed him all the time. That little glitch with David, and Rubens was past. That's how it is."



"Well there's a certain pressure off, because obviously we've done the constructors' and the drivers', but we've got four more races that we want to try and win. It's going to be really interesting to see how everyone reacts to the change of circumstances over those races. I think it will have a positive effect on us, but you never know, not just what will happen to us, but what will happen to the other teams. There's still quite a battle going on for second place in the constructors' and a big battle going on for second in the drivers', and we're determined to try and get Rubens second place. It will just be a perfect year then."



"There's a bit of that! We're going into four races with no championships at stake, so it is very strange. It is going to be a curious feeling. It hasn't happened for a very long time, and it will be interesting to see how it goes."



"I think it's all of those, for sure. Undoubtedly we've done a better job this year, and we've got a better car. We've been just as reliable as we have in other years. I can say it now because I don't have to worry about it, but I think this has been our 30-something time on the podium non-stop [actually it was the 32nd since Malaysia 1999]. It's an incredible record, a real tribute to Ferrari and the people who work there. Of course you can always do better, but it has been a very good step forward, and I see no reason why next year's car, next year's crew, next year's team shouldn't be just as strong."



"Well we were, but everything was hyped up a bit too much after the first two races. The car was good, but it wasn't going to disappear as everyone thought it was. In Brazil we didn't get the set-up right, and at Imola we had a screw-up on the brakes. Then after that everything went pretty smoothly. They were our two worst races of the year, really."



"We blew it a bit at Silverstone. We were concentrating too much on having to beat David, and maybe not thinking about what was the best thing for the race overall. And as result I think we exposed ourselves a bit. It was a mistake that we weren't going to repeat again."



"That's true! We had two reliability problems in one day with Michael in the race, so I guess we got them out of the way. But Rubens has always been there, that's the great thing. It's going to be interesting to see how things develop in these next four races, because obviously there's a pressure to beat Michael, but he knows whatever happens in the race is what happens, and if we can help him to second place in the championship, we will do. I'm intrigued to see how it develops."



"We haven't had a bad race from Michael this year. He's been exceptional. Qualifying has improved for sure. We've had more pole positions than ever, and he's just getting better and better. He's certainly not getting any worse."



"I think it's true. The change of regulations in Barcelona did help clear up a lot of matters. And I think you saw it made no difference to the pecking order of the teams, who was competitive and who wasn't. So all the speculation about who was going to go forward on the grid and who was going to go back was complete nonsense. So that was pleasing, and it has been run in a nice spirit this year - much more pleasant than previous years."



"I don't think there's much of a compromise, really. We stopped the aerodynamic work on this car a month or two ago because we wanted to concentrate on the new car, and besides which we'd done everything that we wanted to do for this season. Testing stuff for the new car will get a priority, which is natural, but we're not going to ease off. We've got a new aero package for Spa, a new aero package for Suzuka. We want to win more races and we want Rubens to finish second in the championship, so we've got lots to go for."



"That's why it's so busy between now and the end of the season, because we've got a lot of work to do before that. There's two or three cars running in most tests now for the rest of the year, mainly because of the ban. We've got a lot to fit in before the shut down."