Brazilian Rubens Barrichello seized a rare podium finish on Sunday for Ferrari in this disappointing season for the once-serial champions and then predicted a revival in fortunes for formula one’s most famous stable.
The Brazilian, so often the whipping boy for defending drivers’ champion German Michael Schumacher during his five years of glory with the Italian team, came home behind the victorious Fernando Alonso after an exciting finish to the European Grand Prix.
Schumacher, the seven-times champion who has endured such a disappointing start to his defence of the title, finished fifth.
Barrichello said: ”The boys here and at the factory are doing a fantastic job to make up the time, really. It is very unfortunate that we have been out of the podium for a long time, the car is very reliable, the engine is good and the tyres are fantastic.
”It is just that we had a difficult time at some point into the season, but we are coming back and I feel the Ferrari team will be very strong from now to the end of the year and we are going to be winning races hopefully soon.”
Barrichello survived an eventful race, and weekend, during which his great experience was used fully in order to produce an important points-scoring finish.
”The first corner is a great one for overtaking,” he said.
”But, on the first lap it can be a mess. I was alongside Fernando and all of a sudden I was turning and I saw two cars cross, I think it was a Williams and somebody else, just crossing in front and I actually had to turn left before I turned right.
”I lost a lot in that confusion and it was a pity, but in the same way I was able to push my race from the beginning. I lost a lot, maybe 15 seconds or even more, but then I was able to push and although I had difficulties overtaking I was able to overtake and use my strategy very nicely.
”I am definitely happy. I checked the car on Saturday morning, it was doing very well on old tyres but not so well on new tyres. So I had to take the gamble on going a little shorter to try to minimise the problems and just go for it.
”My set-up was really good on race pace but not so good on qualifying, so you pick up strategies — when you are not able to get pole position you just gamble with them. I was really good with the team to push the car to its maximum, even though I lost a lot of time.
”I just saw on the TV the fact that there was a car that hit Fernando — I was alongside it — and for a millisecond I didn’t turn and the car hit me as well, so I actually had to turn left.
”I had a fantastic first lap, obviously I was fighting with the Jordans and BARs but I was able to go past one Jordan and one BAR at the same time so I had a lively weekend.”
His strategy meant he could overtake when others were labouring, he said.
”I was lighter at that time and I was able to fight them, so it wasn’t just a case of being good but I was in the right place at the right time and I was able to push.
”From there the car felt very good, I was able to get on with my race. Obviously towards the end, it felt a bit more difficult, a bit more tricky, but by myself the car was doing fantastically.
”It was just getting close to someone the car started to slide a bit too much, so I lost two laps behind Villeneuve when he was receiving blue flags and maybe he didn’t see them. I was losing time but I couldn’t really get that close.
”I knew from that moment that if Nick [Heidfeld] had a problem with his tyres I would still be able to fight, otherwise I would have had to do something magic to overtake him.
”But having said that third place today is very good.” – Sapa-AFP