Post-race press conference - US GP.

Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and David Coulthard (McLaren)

Television unilaterals

Q:
What a fantastic finish to the third SAP United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, right on the line. It's very hard to choreograph a finish like that, 0.01 of a second. Rubens, was that planned or was it a mistake?

Rubens Barrichello:
No, I mean, it wasn't planned. We never said at the beginning of the race. I guess, we had a lot of fun in the race trying to be as fast as the other, and at the end what can I say? I mean, I just thank Michael very much and thank the whole team for the support of the whole year. I mean, we did everything now: We're first, we're second, we won the constructors. I guess the crowd was happy for me. It was very important - the USA is such an important part of my life. To win, it was very, very, very good. I got to the last corner, I didn't know what to do and nothing has been said. Michael was just very kind to, you know, let us finish equally. I guess I pointed a little bit in front, but, you know, what can we say? I mean, it's just - I think it's zero-zero now. We're just having a lot of fun together working together and having the car in front of everyone.

Q:
It certainly sent the crowd wild. Now, in 2000, you were fourth overall, last year, third overall, and this year, as of today, second overall. Are you looking forward to 2003?

RB:
Very much. I'm a happy man inside of the team. We work well together; we work very well together. With both test drivers, we work very well together. And I think we build a fantastic team. I mean it's, yeah, I'm looking forward, but that doesn't mean that it's going to be better or worse. We just have to enjoy life, and I'm enjoying very much.

Q:
Rubens, thanks very much. Michael, it sounds as though it was your decision to try to get - was it a dead heat? You wanted to get the ultimate precise bit of driving or did you intend Rubens just to get in front?

Michael Schumacher:
Maybe [laughter]. I mean, we have so many records done this year, I think the race won what is the closest finish. In all honesty, I think we're just such a great team together, Rubens and myself. We work very hard. We have a fantastic team, and we have always supported each other. And, today, I thought it was a good opportunity to go equal over the line. We tried; we failed by a little bit.

Q:
You didn't fail by much. That was the closest ever finish - 0.01 of a second. You predicted yesterday that it would be a close race here, not just between yourself and Rubens, but also with perhaps McLaren and Williams. It seemed McLaren really raised their game today and got right up with you.

MS:
Yeah, that was expected, to be honest. If you see the gap, it's just over about ten seconds - no, even less than ten seconds in the end of the race, which shows that it was a tight race. I think the strategy we used, two stops in the end was supposed to be by about ten seconds faster. But would we have been stuck behind, then our strategy could have been a problem. So, all in all, we did the right thing at the right time, we had the right car and our guys did the right strategy for us.

Q:
Thank you very much, Michael. David, when you closed up at half-distance, you had yet to come in for your only pit-stop, but you were right behind the Ferraris. Did you reckon at that stage you might be able to get past them?

David Coulthard:
There was a lot of traffic at that point. You know, it was incredible. I've never seen so many cars that have to be lapped. So I think it helped that the Ferraris were going through the traffic first of all and helped clear a little bit of space for me. The fact was that I was already a stop down and, realistically, it was just a case of not trying to lose too much time and make sure I could keep third place.

Q:
You're pressing hard right to the finish with Juan Pablo Montoya closing in on you, but you couldn't afford to back off because I would have thought the knowledge that Kimi Raikkonen's engine had blown, must have made you want to lift your foot just that little bit off the pedal.

DC:
In fact, we changed the strategy for the engine, and I was driving to protect the engine for the last 20 laps of the race. I think our pace could have been quicker, but we weren't going to beat Ferrari, and it was just a question of finishing in front of Williams. Just a precaution because of Kimi's problem, but, nonetheless, I think we can take a bit of a boost from this weekend because we've taken a little step forward.

Q:
David, thanks very much. Back to you, Rubens. The crowd here has been absolutely fantastic, as you said. Next race, Suzuka in Japan, the crowd there also very excited but rather different.

RB:
Well, it's a different place, but, for the Brazilians, I would say it has always been quite good. I mean, Senna was there in Japan. So I have a lot of good Japanese tifosi, and it's going to be good to go there and the car working fine. Hopefully we're going to have a very good race for Bridgestone, which I guess is the most important right now.

Q:
Indeed. Thank you very much, Rubens. Now Rubens and then Michael, if you would like to talk in your own language. Thank you.

Press conference

Q:
Well, Rubens, that was an interesting one. Quite nice to have that on your plate, isn't it? Quite nice to be handed that one on your plate.

RB:
Si.

Q:
Now, tell us, I know before the start of the race, a lot of decisions to make, you told me before the start for two hours or something like that. What sort of decisions were made during that time?

RB:
Well, in the number of pit-stops, the decision to run the T-car or not, because I felt the T-car was a better car this morning. I ended up racing the race car because we were not sure about the brake problem I had on the T-car in the warm-up. Set-up changes, the weather was getting hotter and hotter. We were still uncertain about the laps we could manage on the tyres. But I guess we took the right one. I mean, both cars were running quite well.

Q:
You have been playing catch-up since Friday, really.

RB:
Yeah, yeah. But it is not as bad as other tracks. If I had, for example, lost Friday in Imola or Spa, it would have been a little bit more difficult. I mean, the track here is difficult to set up because you have the choice of going faster on the straights or going fast into the infield. But it was quite straightforward. The car is working perfectly since the beginning of the year. So that helps you making the right choices on set-ups and things.

Q:
The gaps did vary between yourself and Michael. Was that because of traffic or what other reasons?

RB:
I wasn't very happy with the traffic, to be honest, because people seemed to just back off in the middle of the straight thinking that, okay, I'll keep my line, back off in the middle of the straight, and then you go by. But you have to, you know, to be a bit sensible in that situation because all of a sudden people stop in front of you and you have a crash. So twice, I got the Toyota in front of me, and then there was a time when there was a Minardi blew up in front of me on the lap that I was coming in. So I lost in the region of one to two seconds where I had the car and the pace to be closer to Michael the whole day. But it was just - he was maybe better or a little bit luckier just to get ahead on traffic and stay that two seconds.

Q:
Michael, you were the first on the road for all but the last nano-second.

MS:
For what?

Q:
You never heard of a nano-second? Okay, ask Ross about a nano-second. He'll describe it. It's very small. A tick. What was the traffic like for yourself?

MS:
Yeah, I had similar problems, in all honesty. There were a couple of guys that were trying to be nice but in the wrong place. And sometimes it's difficult for the person to judge in front if he backs off, that maybe the guy behind doesn't understand what he's doing, and you then get a surprise suddenly because you don't expect anything in the middle of a corner like this. One corner is Turn 3 to Turn 4, if you back off right in Turn 3, you don't expect that, and you then have not much chance to go somewhere, a couple of issues like that. And a couple of guys, particularly I think 'Irv The Swerve' staying a little bit long with blue flags in front of us. I think he was the most difficult one today, honestly. But otherwise, it's a typical race.

Q:Was the car was perfect?

MS:
Yes, yes. We had to be sort of a little bit careful, especially in the first stint, not to push too hard initially. After we'd done a certain number of laps, then the race was clean, and we knew where we were, and then everything was easy.

Q:
How worried were you by McLaren today?

MS:
Obviously, it was tight, but in the moment I was able to get in front of David after the pit-stop, I knew that we had a good opportunity today to keep this position. But obviously it was tighter than other races we have seen previously.

Q:
Okay, thanks, Michael. David, you said that you felt you had made a step forward this weekend. In any specific area or all areas?

DC:
Well, performance mainly.

Q:
From the tyres, from the engine, from the car?

DC:
We had a change to the car, which I think, on paper anyway, has made us perform a little bit better here. Obviously, you don't have the opportunity sometimes in a grand prix, we can't do it back to back, but, yeah, I think slowly we're making a little bit of progress, and obviously the first goal is to get in front of Williams consistently. We have one more race to see if we can maintain that. But nonetheless, I think we can say that we have made progress, and that's encouraging.

Q:
Which car did you use today? Because you had a fuel problem this morning, didn't you, fuel leak?

DC:
I did the warm-up in the T-car, and they fixed the problems. I used the race car. It sounds pretty similar to Rubens in that there's no difference between the cars, but you get a little bit more comfortable in whatever one you spend most of your time. And, in the end, I decided to race the race car even though I hadn't done the warm-up. At first, I thought the car was quite tricky to drive. As the fuel burned off, then it became reasonably balanced.

Q:
I was going to say you had a pretty heavy fuel load for that, 40-odd laps?

DC:,/B>
Yeah, I was quite surprised actually how good my start was with that level of fuel. I actually gained on both the cars in front initially, and then it was just obviously once the weight effect really took over, they gained a little bit down into the first corner. So, yeah, it's just a case of trying to keep it on the track and keep pushing right to the stop.

Q:
Do you think a two-stop strategy would have made a difference?

DC:,/B>
Not in my situation today. I think what we did was the right strategy.