“I like this track, even if my race results in the past few years have not been so good here,” said the Brazilian “However, in the past, in my days in Formula Opel-Lotus and F3000 I have won races here. I also remember the time I got pole, back when I was driving for Jordan.”

After his win in Hungary Rubens has moved into second place in the drivers title, Finishing second would be pleasing to the Brazilian but he is only thinking about winning races. Come the end of the season then he can look back on the standings and see how he feels about his final position.

“I would be lying if I said finishing second was not important to me,” reckoned Rubens. “Michael has won the championship, so it is a case of being “best of the rest.” But it is more important to me to actually win races.”

Team orders at Ferrari are a common question, so much so that both Rubens and Michael Schumacher must get a bit bored talking about them. But once again the media were keen to press on and find out exactly what goes on in house at Ferrari. Barrichello once again stating that its up to himself to get into a position to make him win and not to wait for orders from the team.

“Maybe we don’t always like the idea of team orders, but it is part of the job and we have to respect that,” admitted the Brazilian. “At the last race in Hungary, the subject did not really come up as I was ahead all the time and even if Michael had been quicker, it would have been very difficult for him to pass on that circuit.” And this weekend? “It all depends where I am in the race,” continued Barrichello. “Last year here, Michael was leading and I was stuck in third place behind a Benetton, so there was nothing he could do to help. It is up to me to do a good solid job and to qualify well. Then we will see.”

Rubens had previously commented that this years success is down to the reliability of the team along with the close relationship they share with Bridgestone. And Barrichello was keen to enlarge on those comments praising the work done by test drivers Luca Badoer and Luciano Burti as well as the quick turnaround that Bridgestone offers Ferrari.