FIA Top Three Press Conference-Monza
Written by John Davison · September 12, 2004
FIA news conference with top three finishers in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, round 15 of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship Series:
Q: Rubens, a great result. Leading by 6.9s at the end of the first lap and then in the pits on lap five.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: It was a difficult decision at the start because when we went to the grid it was fairly wet. The sun was out and basically it was going to dry, but it was very difficult to know when. I thought that on the wets I could open a gap in the first five laps that I would be able to really be happy after the pit stops and stop one but it was difficult to know when and on the radio it was a bit of a mess to know whether to come in or not. ‘Alonso’s doing well, no, stay out.’ So I think it was a lap too much, too long, to be honest, but everything worked out very well. There was a point in the middle of the race where I thought everything was lost because Michael overtook me, Pizzonia overtook me and I actually took a gamble yesterday to go a little bit towards wet settings. The thing was drying out so quickly and I had a lot of understeer but obviously as the fuel ran down my car became faster and faster and I was able to push and I was delighted.
Q: You were phenomenally quick in that build-up to what was effectively your third pit stop.
RB: I tell you, I didn’t see anything; I just kept pushing and pushing. I felt like yesterday’s qualifying lap was tremendous. I was telling myself you deserve this, just push the throttle down, and just go as fast as you can. So when I came out of the pits I had no-one in front and no-one behind that I could see. So then I asked ‘which position am I in, which position am I in?’ And they said ‘P1′ and then I said something in Portuguese which I can’t say here now but it was just a phenomenal feeling and that’s why I am so relieved and so delighted as well.
Q: But then you did have Michael in your mirrors right at the end of the race.
RB: Yeah. Well at that stage the team told both us, I think, to conserve the engines just a little bit because we had to push very hard in the middle of the race so at that stage I felt quite comfortable to be honest.
Q: Michael, P15, I think you were on the first lap
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Michael Schumacher, after having broken virtually every record in Formala One, still found time to cry about Montoya not speeding up fast enough to retake his position after the first chicane. (Montoya reminded people that the track was still wet and that he was unable to accelerate the way he would on a dry track). If the situaltion was reversed and JPM blamed Shumacher for playing games, everyone would have called JPM nuts.
I thought this guy Schumacher had grown up a bit after the incidents with Damon Hill, then Jacques Villeneuve. I started to become a moderate Schumacher fan. He seemed to work at improving his PR image. But the guy just isn’t happy unless he wins each race. He missed in Spa, and instead of celebrating the championship, he said little - then had a prress conference later in the week. He appears happy for Rubens. My guess is he’d much rather have won today - especially knowing that he could have caught and passed him.
The only time he seems to be pumping his arms and jumping up and down is when he wins a race. Otherwise he’s bitter and finds people (expecially JPM) to badmouth. Will the guy ever grow up?
That’s what being a competitor is all about. Never being happy (truly happy) unless you win! Part of his driven nature that makes him great. Would I have liked to see him jump up down? I don’t think so. Then the comments would be “Stop show boating, Mikey, let Rubens enjoy his moment in the sun!”