Rubens Barrichello revealed here Thursday that his decision to leave Ferrari at the end of the year was partly down to a belief he would not have a chance to beat Michael Schumacher at the Italian team.
Brazilian Barrichello has regularly been forced to take second best to Schumacher since joining Ferrari in 2000 and he believes his move to BAR-Honda next season will give him a new freedom.
"I saw it was going to be very difficult for me to actually try to win the championship (with Ferrari)," said Barrichello, whose move to BAR for 2006 was announced earlier this week. "Michael has been there (at Ferrari) longer and I saw my chances much higher with a team that has not yet won a race but has all the desire and the good ingredients to do it.
"Every change brings a new motivation, but it is the resources, the people, everything, that was more the fact that took me to there. Everything is in plan with Honda and BAR for next year is quite good.
"There is good motivation for the team to have someone who is still young and motivated to win and transform everything in a good way. I am not going there to say ‘change this, change that’, I am going there to learn how the team works.
"I am bringing the 13 years of experience to make that a winning team. I still dream of being World Champion, that is why I am here, that is why I feel competitive every day I wake up and that is the reason I take the challenge."
There was no secret that Barrichello`s relationship with Ferrari had soured this season and he had an obvious disagreement with team-mate Schumacher after the German scythed past him on the final lap of the Monaco Grand Prix in May.
He revealed here Thursday that he has been in talks with BAR for "some time" but refused to admit the Monaco moment was a catalyst for his departure, claiming instead that such difficult situations were positive experiences.
He said the infamous Austrian Grand Prix of 2002, in which he was forced to pull over and concede the race to his team-mate Schumacher on the final corner, was in fact the turning point for his Ferrari career. He had led the race from the start but bowed to team-orders and he believes the event made Ferrari take note after Schumacher refused to stand on the top step of the podium and acknowledged the Brazilian`s moral victory.
"People ask me what is the worst time I had at Ferrari and they might think it was Austria 2002," said Barrichello. "I think that was the best time. It was great because that was really good to change things around. It was really good in terms of respect because they knew I could win races without the help of anyone, so it was probably the turning point of my racing career there."
Barrichello, who was bound to the team until the end of 2006, was quick to thank Ferrari team principal Jean Todt, who allowed him to escape his contract and join BAR next year.
And he added: "I had a great time, I am having a great time and I didn`t take too serious the fact I could leave the team because I had a deal for next year, there was no buy-out or anything like this. So it is thanks to Jean Todt that I was able to. I was talking to BAR for a long time but it was just this year at some point that everything started to happen a little bit.
"Then I went to Jean and said if I want to leave, will you be happy to let me go` and he said you have one week to decide that because I am counting on you for next year` but then I came back with the news."
Barrichello, 33, joined Ferrari in 2000 and won nine races for the team. His best seasons were in 2002 and 2004, when he finished second in the drivers` championship to Schumacher each time.


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