Question: Ross, the constructors’ championship is virtually a done deal for Brawn GP. Or do you see a scenario where a lead of 40.5 points won’t be enough?
Ross Brawn: Well, mathematically it is not done and, until it is done mathematically, I don’t relax and the team does not relax. It would obviously be fantastic to have the last one or two races without the pressure of the championship, but we are prepared either way. And I have learned from many years in the sport that you don’t take anything for granted until it is actually completed.
Question: At some races during the middle of the season it looked as though Brawn were running out of steam. Over the last three races you are back with a vengeance. Why did you seem to flag?
Ross Brawn: We had a couple of races where we struggled with tyre temperature. Normally - and this is a very positive thing - the car is very good on those tyres, but we had a couple of races, like Silverstone or at Nurburgring, where we could not get tyre temperature and I think we overcompensated. I think we tried too hard to find a solution to the problem and thus confused ourselves. So we took a step back, went back to fundamental principles and accepted that there are races where we might not be able to win, but we could still score strong points. And we simplified our approach and got back to fundamentals again. The team had done a very good job developing the car, but because of that confusion we had midseason, we lost the benefits of the improvements that we’d made. But now these benefits are becoming clear. I think we did stutter a bit midseason, but we understood why and we’ve got it back on track now.
Question: You have two drivers in the running for the title. At the beginning of the season Jenson Button was stronger but now Rubens Barrichello seems to have the edge. Do you have a preference?
Ross Brawn: No, not at all. With two drivers who are so close in performance, it is inevitable with a sport as complex as Formula One racing that one race will favour one more than the other, and when one starts to get the impetus it is quite difficult for the other to break that impetus. It seems that the little difficult period we had midseason hurt Jenson a little bit more than it did Rubens. Rubens found solutions more quickly than Jenson, and now Rubens has got the upper hand slightly. But it’s a very close contest and at this race it could easily go the other way again. I am very delighted to have two drivers who both fight for the championship. We have to fight in a correct and proper way.
