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Brawn GP
Question: How do you think the cars will handle around here? How are they going to handle the kerbs as well?
Rubens Barrichello: I am very optimistic about our chances here. It is a new area for everyone like every year. It used to be here and Hockenheim where there is a package just for this race with the low downforce. We have some of the tunnel experience which was good and hopefully it will translate well to the track. The temperatures seem to be okay which for us with the tyres is very important. Low downforce creates a situation where you put more effort onto the tyres as well. The kerbs are quite good although when we walked the circuit this morning some of them seem to be a little bit too high to be used but I expect my car to be competitive.
Question: Rubens, you have had a fantastic record here. A couple of wins, a pole position. You have finished all the races since 2001. Your feelings about this must be very encouraging?
Rubens Barrichello: It is. At the end of the day it is a race track that I like very much. The podium in 2004 was fantastic. I think it was the first time where the big podium was introduced, so I feel good. I think it is going to be hot, maybe a bit of a cloudy situation, maybe even wet. But if is dry I think the track is going to be good for us. I am looking forward. It is something that I have got to play catch-up until the end of the year, so I am looking forward to that.
Question: In comparison to your team-mate are you feeling very positive when you look at his championship lead?
Rubens Barrichello: I have got to see my situation more than try to look at him or any other person. I have got to do the best I can and have a weekend where I am happy with my situation and sort out the car for myself. If you take Spa, for instance, I had plenty of chances to get to the podium and maybe really do well if it wasn’t for the problem at the start. But having the problem I was still very positive at the end of the race that the two points were better than zero. You have got to take every chance not just from now but from a long time ago. I think Silverstone was a bit of a turning point and I hope to keep on going. It is positive, so I am looking forward.
Question: I’m sure you’re aware of the ongoing Renault situation at the moment. Could I just get a general perspective from all five of you? Are you surprised that something like that could happen in this sport, or does nothing surprise you in F1 anymore?
Rubens Barrichello: Well, it’s quite difficult to think that somebody would crash a car because he was told to. Very realistically speaking, I think it’s easier to crash a Formula One car than drive a Formula One car, that’s a fair point, because of the amount of power and everything. It’s very easy to crash the car. But to get to that point, I was put into a situation in Austria which was the limit of the limit. There were eight laps of conversation, the conversation going on and things were said to me that I had to give up, but I had to give up in front of everyone, everyone knew what was going on there. It’s very, very sad. If that’s true, it’s very, very sad. The only thing I can see is that somebody wants Briatore’s head, that’s all I can see now, because it sounds very strange.
Question: Rubens, what was it like to drive a Ferrari in Monza?
Rubens Barrichello: It was great. It’s a special feeling, obviously. You can see everyone dressed in red, I can quite clearly see what Fisico is going through. Good for him, very, very well done. I think it’s a dream that everybody has, not just the Italians. But for it to happen to an Italian right here in Monza, in front of the tifosi, is just great, a really, really good feeling, and he has to use the energy to be very powerful and do his job, because at Ferrari it’s very easy to forget that you do that for the love of racing, and the pressure rises; he’s going to see the pressure for himself. But it’s fantastic if he uses the pressure in a positive way, it’s just a fantastic feeling.
Question: Rubens, you have had problems at the start of three races out of twelve starts. Can you tell us what exactly has happened? Is it a car problem?
Rubens Barrichello: Well, I’m the first one to say if I’ve made a mistake, but quite honestly, I’ve been doing the same strategy at all the races, all the time. Like I said, we’ve had fantastic starts and bad starts. We haven’t had an average start. Once, in Turkey, we had problems with a clutch that was very contaminated by oil but the other two were a wrong call in terms of positioning the clutch for the start, how much grip you would have. It’s very unfortunate, especially when you think about the amount of points that I could have had in those situations, but I’m just looking forward. I still got two points from the last race and the team will be doing its best not to have any more of those… we cannot afford any more, anyway.
Question: Rubens, do you think there’s going to be a point when the team might make a decision if the Red Bull guys are getting too close and favour Jenson or have you been assured that this will not happen?
Rubens Barrichello: I won’t accept it anyway. There’s a real point there. Until there are mathematical chances… I think it’s in the best interests of the team to push forward because Red Bull can be quite strong in the last races, so it would be worse for the team. I’m a team player who wants to win the championship and I’m fighting for it but if I can see that there is no mathematical way then for sure, but until then… I hope there won’t be, anyway.
Question: Rubens, everybody is wondering about the symbol on the top of your helmet which looks like the Star of David. You have a big community of fans in Israel, so can you solve this question for us about this symbol on the top of your helmet?
Rubens Barrichello: The star first started with someone telling me that I should have something on the top. That happened in 1995, someone came to me and said ‘someone in the sky is looking at you’ and for me, I felt something good about it, and I put a star there, which you could call anything, but it’s just a star. It was a five pointed star. After that, I made some changes because my energy comes from a six pointed star, not a five pointed star, and people aren’t just associating that to the Jewish community. It is the Star of David but if you study everything worldwide it doesn’t link straight to the Jewish community. I’m Catholic but it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just the fact that I’m a spiritualist and I believe in any points of goodwill. I basically had one thing for the start of my career in ’93, ’94, ’95 and now it’s just the energy from the six pointed star.
