Rubens Barrichello Q&A

For more on Rubens Barrichello, see this week's AUTOSPORT magazine, on sale tomorrow (Thursday).



"I think I started the season very well, [I was] very prepared for what I was aiming for. But I think the results were not great this year. I lost one position in Australia because my car was damaged when I crashed with Frentzen. I lost one position in Malaysia because when I went off the track my car was falling apart. So I have been a little bit unlucky, if anything."



"This year I think the best job I've done was in Hungary. In Hungary I had the pace to keep up with Michael and then I had to drop a little bit because he was in a situation where Coulthard could damage a little bit of our strategy. And then I came back quite strong. He overtook me, I had to keep pace, the car wasn't feeling good, and then the car improved. So I kept on going. I think Hungary was one of the hardest races physically, but I was on it. It was very satisfying. But the easiest one I should have won was Monza. I think it was quite clear that I could have. I would have loved to do it for the tifosi, and for Zanardi."



"Brazil was frustrating, but it was my fault in a way. I needed someone to say God gave you the chance to be here again [after his race car stopped on a warm-up lap and he ran back to the pits], so just calm down a little bit. I was too much in a hurry. The start didn't work, so I had to go manually. I lost positions, I overtook two people on the first lap, so the second lap I should have slowed down a little bit. I was on a two-stop as well, so I had to gain time. I never expected Ralf to brake so early. But he decided that he couldn't go for that Jordan, so he just braked earlier, and I wasn't prepared for that really. I was coming flat out and I was braking at the qualifying place and I just ran in the back of him. I was disappointed big time, because it was could have been a good race."



"Yes, because I know everyone, I know where the buttons are, I know more about strategy, I've talked my way in more. It's easier, more natural, less mechanical."



"Yeah, basically. I don't know where we start next year. In the last few races we were 50:50 in terms of deciding things, and having favours. Normally it's a bit more to his side. So I don't know where we start next season. I was quicker than Michael at the beginning of this year. In testing I went quicker, and the lap record in Mugello is mine. It's probably the attention that you need to be able to do it. I'm not saying that he gets better equipment than I do, but it's based on him. It's not a question of getting in the car and being quicker. You need to meld. He can be first in qualifying, I can be second, and I can win the race. That's what matters, the actual race."



"It's the nature of things. I was so impressed with Raikkonen, not so much for the results, but because somebody was able to drive a Formula Renault, and then an F1. I wasn't able to do that."



"It might be easier. But when I drove an F3000 for the first time, I thought it was too fast. From F3000 to F1 wasn't such a gap. It's incredible what he's done. Perhaps being from a country with no emotions, he can live with things better than others. If he was Brazilian he might not have driven so well - he might have felt a bit of emotion in him."



"Williams had a very good car and a very good tyre this year. The chances of them improving more are always there, but it gets tougher and tougher, as they probably know. To make a good car an even better car is tougher than to make a bad car into a good one. You never know. We expect that they will be very, very good, and we expect McLaren to do very well because I don't think Adrian Newey liked this year's car very much, and he's going to do something else."



"You can forget about everything. We do so much testing in the middle of the year, we do so many things - it is tiring. I'm so proud of Luca Badoer, because he must be so tired of going around Fiorano. It must be unbelievable. It's not that I don't like testing, but there is a limit for everything. Your body cannot resist any more, and you start to have problems after that. It's not because I have someone now to look after at home, but it's so tiring, I look so much forward to these two months. I'm switching off completely, changing phones, and just being with the family!"