Barrichello: There’s too much pressure on us
Rubens Barrichello feeling the strain of pressure at Williams to score points
May 21 (AT&T Williams) Rubens Barrichello expects more overtaking at this race than in previous years and, from a performance point of view, he’s hoping that a series of aero upgrades will propel him to his first points finish in 2011.
Rubens at the wheel of the Williams FW33 in Barcelona
What are your hopes going into the Spanish Grand Prix?
Rubens Barrichello: We need to score points. There’s too much pressure on all of us at the moment as a result of not scoring points so far this year and we need to break that trend. As well as our position in the constructors’ championship, points are what motivate people. They are good for the guys in the factory; they are good for the guys in the pit garage; they are good for the drivers – they’re good for everyone.
Talk us through the upgrades on the FW33 this weekend…
Barrichello: Like most teams in the pitlane, we have lots of new parts at this race. The most significant ones are the new floor and the new rear wing. We brought the rear wing to Turkey two weeks ago, but it needed a bit more work. It should be ready to race here and we hope that it will be worth 0.3s per lap alone.
Rubens in the cockpit of the Williams FW33
There were just 10 overtaking manoeuvres at this race last year. Can we expect more passing on Sunday?
Barrichello: On the evidence of what we’ve seen so far this year, the answer has to be yes. The combination of high tyre wear and the DRS on the pit straight should increase the amount of passing. This track is notoriously hard on tyres, so when they go off here, they’ll go off big time.
All of the drivers have done a lot of miles around Barcelona, and you’re no exception. Does that experience help you?
Barrichello: I could drive this track with my eyes closed! Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help because I can learn any track in just a handful of laps. What will help us this weekend a bit is that fact that we tested at this track during winter testing. The car has changed since then, but it will be interesting to compare the data.
