The Ferrari team and key partners leave Sepang and the Malaysian Grand Prix well aware that they have plenty of work to do after Michael Schumacher finished in a distant seventh position scoring his first two points of the year. Rubens Barrichello did not finish the 56-lap race after pulling his F2004 M into the pits to retire from 11th place late in the race.
The team have ten points from the first two events and are now working flat out to get the definitive 2005 chassis ready to race. For seven time Champion Michael Schumacher, seventh position is no cause for celebration while Sporting Director Jean Todt says there are no excuses.
Michael Schumacher
“Of course, seventh place is not exactly worth celebrating, but I feel that I did the best I could have done today, coming up from 13th on the grid. My car ran reliably and with no problems. I was a bit conservative in the early stages, to be sure of having a competitive car in the closing parts and, given the situation I can be happy with two points. A Formula One car is very complex and there is not one single factor to blame for our poor performance. We are simply not strong enough in several areas at the moment. We are well aware of that and we are and we will continue to work hard to deal with that. Now I head to Mugello to drive the F2005 for the first time. Driving a new car is always something special, so I am looking forward to that.”
Rubens Barrichello
“The race was going quite well at first and I was able to fight for at least sixth place. All of a sudden the car developed quite a lot of oversteer. I radioed the team and they told me that they could tell that there had been a change to the aerodynamics on the car and the handling was transformed: it was very bad. Then, when I pitted again, they found that a piece of rubber had got attached to the wing. But, because I had run ran for at least 20 laps with too much oversteer, it ruined my rear tyres. It’s a shame, because until then the balance of the car was good. I wasn’t quick enough to win of course, but I could have ended up in the top six.”
Jean Todt
“There can be no excuses after a race like this. After qualifying, we knew the race would be one of fighting our way up the order and so it turned out. We were beaten by opponents who proved to be stronger than us. We have won so often thanks to the work of the team and our partners and now we have to work together to turn the situation around. Once again, this shows how difficult it is to win. We know we have all the elements required to succeed. Our will to win and our readiness to work hard remain the same as ever. We already have three days of testing scheduled for next week at Mugello to develop the F2005 and the Bridgestone tyres. After that, we will make a decision as to the programme for the new car.”
Ross Brawn
“This was a very disappointing race. We had been optimistic that track conditions might suit us during the race, but that did not happen. We were not competitive today, so I think we and our technical partners must look at what can be done over the next few weeks and months, to put us back where we need to be, because clearly we were not good enough today. We have been in this situation before and it might well happen again at some time in the future. But I have every faith in our own ability and that of our partners to rectify this situation. Regarding Rubens’ problem, we discovered that a piece of rubber got wedged in the rear wing. That upset the balance of the car, but he kept going and eventually, the handling imbalance damaged the rear tyres. Michael did as much as we could have expected. He paced himself well during the race, the strategy was good, he pushed when he needed to. A couple of points could prove vital at the end of the season.”


Tags: ferrari, rubens, barrichello, michael, schumacher,