Rubens, a lot of pressure on Brawn GP this weekend. It has been a difficult weekend for the team. What do you take away from this and how much pride do you personally take from your performance today?

A lot of pride because at the end of the day it was very difficult. I mean yesterday as I said we were thinking that third was the best we could have and we knew that if the track didn't change a little bit it was going to be difficult to beat them. They were the class of field this weekend. I am proud of the achievement I had. The second stint was very, very difficult on the harder tyres. It was difficult to hold on to people and with the winds crossing the track which sometimes would throw you onto the marbles. In turn one I had a couple where I was running off the track and it was very, very difficult to know if the wind would hit you or not at that time, so it was difficult to follow the lines. Unfortunately they were really, really fast but I did what I had to do. My target to the end of the year is really to close the gap on Jenson and I think we all did today. Also I want to thank all the doctors that helped me this weekend because I was in terrible back pain and Doctor Cecarelli and the doctors at Toro Rosso and my friends there that helped me and my physio as my back really hurt the whole weekend and they helped me big time, so I could finish the race in good feeling.

When you were ahead of Mark, did you know you were probably in trouble?

Yeah, we knew from yesterday the car that they had, so it was going to be a difficult one. It was close actually. When I came around the first corner and he was exiting the pits I needed not a little bit to stay in front but all in all, you saw him, when he was in front he disappeared and there was nothing I could do. And to make things worse, I think it was probably a tough choice to go on the harder tyres right in the middle. There was very little between the tyres all through the weekend but in the race I think the softer tyres performed better, so to have a long stint on the harder tyre was a tough call. Then I saw Rosberg and Massa coming along, so it was a tough race for me. The car is balanced but we lack grip. We were hoping that the weather could get a little hotter but it never did, so it was a struggle but having said that, I'm happy because all in all I took some points out of Jenson, so for me that's the target that I have achieved.

You've had a bit of a worry about the tyre temperatures at this circuit. Do you think that may be the same situation at the Nürburgring? We don't know what the weather's going to be, obviously.

Nurburgring can be snowing or it can be deadly hot, so it's a very difficult place to see what's going to happen. It's three weeks away, we have a chance there that it could be hotter or anything but we need to work on that (tyre temperature). We had that situation before in Shanghai and the Red Bulls were quite strong and I believe that that's the situation right now. We haven't all of a sudden lost performance, we just think it's to do with a little bit of the weather.

You mentioned your back; when did that make itself apparent?

On the trip, on the way to England (from Brazil) I started to feel my back, especially my lower back, hurting. After I ran on Friday morning, when I got out of the car, it was really, really stiff. The massage wasn't doing anything and obviously nowadays you cannot take any medicine, so I had to check the doctors and check everyone and they helped me big time. So I'm feeling good. Luckily the position that I'm sitting in the car is comfortable for the lower back. From now on it's going to be a problem but it's fine as long as it's not a problem with the car, it's fine.

Do you think you are putting back interest into the championship after the six wins out of seven races for Jenson Button, and how difficult do you think it will be to catch him?

Jenson has been quite strong in every race this year. Let's say he birdied the first holes, I hope he bogeys the next ones and I can birdy. It's pretty much like that. I hope that this is a turnaround here.

Felipe Massa was right on your tail having started from eleventh. Are the Ferraris getting closer to the Brawns as well? You didn't beat him by a great amount.

Well, I think Ferrari is strong everywhere in any case. The fact is that with their car, and whatever the behaviour is, they are stronger in some races and not in some others. Here, they didn't seem to be very competitive in qualifying, especially with Felipe, but then he had a good strategy and he made up the gap. But the cars are very similar. If you take Istanbul, in qualifying, for example, there was 1.4s between the whole grid. If you have the car adjusted to one particular track you're going to have something happening quite quickly. Plus, I think Formula One is now developing so fast and we have new parts for the car at every race and everyone is doing that. You're going to see teams coming from the back, for sure.

This was billed as Jenson Button's race to lose, if you like. Do you think you've not only gained on the track from the result today but also psychologically, and perhaps Rubens that might even apply to you?

Like I said, he was on a roll. It's almost as if everything was opening right up in front of him and he used that for him very well. There's nothing to say against that. We are sportsmen and if you can make that into a turnaround and work for yourself with the energy and try to get everything for you, you're doing very well. But I think Jenson is quite mature already, so he's going to be strong. It's not that I think that with one sixth place he can flick it up, I think everything that we're going to conquer towards the end of the season we're going to conquer, he's not going to give us any opportunity but that's why it's nice and I think it's a good challenge.

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