Rubens 'tried to pass Michael'

Schumacher was under pressure from Barrichello for seven laps in the middle of the race, as Rubens was on a lighter fuel load. Despite starting in the spare Ferrari, after damaging his racecar on Saturday morning, Barrichello found its handling to his liking and only a late race brake problem, which caused a brief off, caused him to drop to third on the road by the finish.

"I went for it, but I went for it badly, it wasn't that I was backing off," said Barrichello. "There was a certain moment that I had to make the corner, so I couldn't just go on the inside and then that was it. On the other hand, there are so many occasions that when you go on the inside, if your brakes are working good it's okay, but my pedal was a little long.

"So I went on the inside, hoping that he wouldn't manage to make the corner, and I had good speed for the next straight, because if you don't have it here, you have it there, so I was trying. Unfortunately the bollard in that chicane just came out completely, and there were pieces flying everywhere.

"It was difficult to know which part of the corner you should take because at that time, there were still little pieces there, and it's very dangerous for you to put the car in the middle of those kerbs, just like I did on the Saturday morning when my car was damaged. I thought I had a run on him, he eventually braked a little bit later and it seemed like I backed off, but I was just trying to keep my car on the track and give him another run on the next straight."