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Britain: Rubens in the press conference
By Phil Huff July 7 2008
Rubens Barrichello stepped from the podium straight in to the post-race press conference in Silverstone, where the Honda Racing F1 driver spoke of his drive, the risks, and the rewards. Sitting alongside Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld, here's what the Brazilian had to say...
Rubens, first podium finish for Honda in 2008, your first podium since 2005, unbelievably, and it happened with Ross Brawn again in difficult conditions here at Silverstone. A bit of the old magic again.

Well, it’s fantastic. I’ve never lost the belief that I have in me, this speed and everything. Obviously it was a lucky day with the weather and so on. It seems to always happen to me in a way, because I love wet weather conditions. But it was a perfect race. We had a minor problem on the pit stop, that for some reason I stayed there – I think I had the fuel already – but they just didn’t let me go for some reason, but that was a minor problem, because I think it was the very right decision for us to take the extreme wet weather and I could see, I was passing people on the inside, the outside and it was just magic. I thought that was a good decision because I ran off the track at Club and I almost hit the wall. Club and Abbey were the most difficult ones, so for me, I took the decision… I was already there. I said I’m coming in and I’m coming for the extreme.

In terms of where you’ve been for the last 18 months, what does this podium finish feel like for you?

The team knows – maybe those outside don’t – but I have this great feeling. It’s like I’m young, it’s like I’m smiling at problems, it’s like I’m working more. I feel that. I just love the sport, I just love the speed, I cannot live without that. It’s not that I want to prove to Ross that I’m physically capable. He knows that I have the speed and I want to keep on racing. I want to take the chance to thank very much – to dedicate this race to my kiddo, to Eduardo, because he, yesterday, he saw how tough it was to be 16th and he said ‘oh Dad, I’m going to pray for wet for you to get on the podium tomorrow,’ so how magic this is!

Rubens Barrichello and a wet Silverstone seem to go well together!

Well, 2003 was actually dry but I think the wet and myself… there’s no specific reason. To be honest, I wasn’t good in the wet in my very first race. I wasn’t at all good in go-kart and I remember the strategy was that the next time it was wet at Interlagos with a go-kart, to take slicks and go learn in the wet. That’s what I did for half a day and then when I put on the wets, I was a master, it was unbelievable. That was ’82! You see, I’m still young. I love the wet and I think it’s just the spirit. When some people look at situations where they don’t like it - it doesn’t matter what – it’s already bad, it’s already a negative influence. You have to take it as it comes. Today it was obviously very difficult at the beginning with the visibility, coming from behind. There was a moment I touched the white line and I spun. My team-mate went by at Club. But then from there on, there was a minor problem at the pit stop and I still don’t know what happened, because I was there for more than twenty seconds. And that obviously cost me one position on the podium. That was minor. I still have to understand what it was. But the decisions to take the tyres at the right moment were fantastic, and the decision to come in… the radio was working fine. I had everything under control. Once I almost hit the wall at Club when I decided to go for the extreme wet tyres. They told me you’ve got to stop for some other tyres even though it might be five laps or so, in those five laps you can conquer ten seconds a lap and that’s what happened, didn’t it? I was going so much faster than people and I could overtake. I had to be patient because as Nick said, I was so much faster than people that you could overdo it. I had to take my lines carefully and it worked fantastically well.

And a great reception as well.

Yeah. Since I joined the team… I’ve joined them for a purpose. I always thought they had a fantastic 2004 season. They didn’t do very well in 2005, so I thought that it was just going to come back in 2006 because they have fantastic engineers, fantastic mechanics, the organisation, the whole policy of the team is good, but they need a technical leader, so it took a long time until Ross came. Everything calmed down a bit and now we have a lot of respect between ourselves and I think the work is nice, very nice. I think the podium comes at a good time. I have no intention of stopping. I will only stop if I have nowhere else to go, but my intention is to stay with Honda. I have no contracts just yet, but I feel young. I love racing more than I ever did. The day that I find that I’m actually slower than in that first race at Kyalami is the day I will stop. Right now I’m just feeling that I’m faster than that day.

Could you tell us about your feeling in the car when you passed the finishing line?

It’s obviously been a long time without that but up to now I’ve had a great career. I know the feeling on the lap just before you conquer something. It’s just a great feeling. You could hear on the radio my engineer Jock Clear saying ‘you don’t need to take those risks in keeping the lap (time) down.’ I wasn’t taking any risks at all, so if you’re certain of that, because it’s so funny that people outside are so scared. Oh man, he’s going to put a wheel wrong or something, so it’s very nice to be in that situation. When I crossed the line, I wanted to shake every hand of the Honda personnel, and I almost stopped the car to put my hand up to them because they deserve it. They work flat out and the lack of results is not just bad for myself but it’s bad for the whole team. So for them to get that - the factory is literally two minutes away - and in such a good way, it means a lot to me and to them.

1993, your third race ever, I believe, Donington Park in conditions not too dissimilar to this. Just your memories of that and the fact that the British Grand Prix is going to return there in 2010 and whether you hope to be there?

Well, conditions were actually very similar. The visibility in both was very difficult and so on. Obviously, we were in different cars in different eras. But when it comes to this question, it’s like I have a wall and I’m on top of the wall. One side is Silverstone, the other side is Donington because I have great memories from my Formula 3 times and from Formula One at Donington and so on. But I love Silverstone. I think that Becketts is one of my top three corners in the world. Obviously, when it comes, I think I will just open my arms and just take it. I think Donington is a great circuit if they make it safe for Formula One. It’s going to be a lovely event. But I cannot just say that I will forget Silverstone. Silverstone has been quite important for me.

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