Spain: Rubens Barrichello talks with the media

By Phil Huff
May 10 2007

Honda Racing F1's Rubens Barrichello sat down with the media today in the first of the official pre-race press conferences. With Spaniard's Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa in attendance, he didn't get to speak too much, but managed to squeeze in the fact that he's hoping the RA107 gets a bit quicker in July...

What are your feelings about the changes to the circuit? Is it better for racing, is it better for you drivers?

I think it might be the case that the racing is better except that we lost two corners that were very challenging and good and if we look back, we've lost so many circuits by doing that, so obviously, if you have the space I would rather have a bit more room for going off or something, but still have those corners that we had. It was the same case in Hockenheim, for example. It was just lovely to be there but we had to improve safety and then we cut the track short. I don't want to see that happening too often, but in the way that is safer now and probably a little bit better for overtaking, I think we have to agree.

You obviously had some problems in the first three races; had those problems been cured when you came here for the test?

No. I think the car is better than ever. Obviously the test and the effort that the team is making with the car had to result in some changes, so I think the car is a little bit better, but everyone improved, so we have to put the car on the track and see what it does. But although we know where the problem is, it's been very difficult to address, even though the team has been working 24 hours a day, flat out, and I think it will be some time before we can sort out the problems, but we have some upgrades such as this one and then we're going to have another for Montreal and then again in France and hopefully by then we will have a competitive car.

How desperate is the team becoming? And how desperate are the drivers becoming?

Well, I don't think it's desperation, it's the fact that we need to work together. It doesn't matter if I get out of the car and say this car is bad. They already know what the car is. We have to be very specific about the problems and to translate that to the engineers and those people who work on the aerodynamics of the car. Being very specific will make the car better, so now that the wind tunnel is working well and so on, we can see that the things that are happening on the track are happening in the tunnel as well, which wasn't the case before, so now we are tracking the problem much better.

So was the basic problem a wrongly calibrated wind tunnel?

No, no, but I think the tunnel is too new for us anyway. We are discovering that. I'm not saying it was wrongly calibrated, I think we had to have a better understanding of what it was giving us but right now it's giving us support, so that's why I can say that I am confident that we can sort out the problem.

Skipping ahead a little bit, you'll be in Montreal in two races and it will be the first race there without Michael Schumacher who has dominated there for six years out of ten, and without Jacques Villeneuve who was one of the big reasons for F1's popularity. I'm just wondering how you feel about that race and how different it will be this year?

Everyone loves to go to Montreal and I think that love of going there, because the city is nice and the track is good for overtaking, transforms to the public. The public is always very good in receiving us and so I think people will mostly feel for Jacques not being there. For Michael, they already got used to the situation by watching the race on TV, so they’re expecting him not to be there and that’s it, but I think the race will run with good expectations.

One month without a race, is that good?

It is a bit too much. I start to drive a bit too quick on the roads so I miss the speed.