Straight From England

Friends,

So we made it, didn’t we? The long awaited podium, that seemed so distant!
Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking, and it’s not just the question of thinking positively but ultimately what I want out of life, and what I want out of F1; all of this has certainly helped me, both personally and professionally.

I have to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you readers, loyal fans who always follow me and lend me their support; I would also like to thank my family and friends, and say that if you think the story of my son Eduardo was my idea, it was not. He noticed my voice sounded a little discouraged and said he would pray for rain, because I have always been a good driver when it is wet and raining and would then make it to the podium. This one’s for you DUDU!!

It almost seemed like I won the Grand Prix, but the party had to be big because my “little car” was just itching to get to the podium; so that if podium does happen, the party has to be big.

Well, the weekend started out ok, that is, on Friday it was really hard to analyze anything because the level of fuel varied a lot among the teams.
Saturday was a very competitive day, but I didn’t make it to the second classifying by very little. Even if I had made it, I don’t think I would have done better than 13th.

Starting off 16th in Silverstone, my favorite track, was really frustrating. However, there was a rain forecast for the next day.
During the race, I was able to get 10th at the first lap and I felt things were flowing well. The track started out really wet, but since it wasn’t raining, it started to dry off and that made me lose time.

In an attempt to keep up with Glock’s pace, who was right in front of me, I touched a white line and went straight by. Button took advantage of that and overtook me, but it started to rain again.
I radioed the team, telling them that my front tires were bald and that when I went to the pit stop, I would like new intermediate tires.

I actually went to the boxes a lap early and ended up overtaking Button, Glock and Webber and my pace was good.
About 10 laps later, it started to rain really hard and again I called the boxes, telling them I was coming in to change them to rain tires.

In the rush, we had a problem with the gas pump, causing us to lose 27 seconds, which was a real pity. However, I must say that overtaking everyone through the outside and the inside was sensational! With the right tires, I was able to recover the time that was lost and we made it to the podium.

Of course we would have come in second if we hadn’t had any problem at the pit stop, but so what? Winning third was already very improbable and the team’s morale went soaring up!

One thing is for sure, we will keep it real, knowing that in order for us to get another podium in a dry race, the car has to be improved by approximately 1 second. Therefore this is our goal.

Take care,

Rubens Barrichello