Australian GP Ferrari race notes

A fantastic one-two for Ferrari
Melbourne, 12th March

Michael Schumacher: 1st, 1:34:01.987, 58 laps, chassis no. 200
Rubens Barrichello: 2nd, at 11.415s, 58 laps, chassis no. 199
Temperatures: air 24 °C, track 39 °C

A one-two finish for Ferrari in the Australian GP, with Michael Schumacher winning from Rubens Barrichello. This is Ferrari’s 126th win, the third in Australia and the forty seventh one-two in the World Championship.

Jean Todt: “We could not have made a better start. This is the first one-two finish with our new driver line-up. The cars went really well in this opening race. I was worried about the reliability. We got the best result, while those we expected to be our main rivals failed to score. The championship is a difficult obstacle race with 16 rounds to go. Now we have a great opportunity, which we must exploit. The whole team worked very well. Michael used the car rebuilt after Friday’s accident, thanks to excellent work from the mechanics. We changed Barrichello’s strategy in order to get him past Frentzen and all went according to plan.”

Michael Schumacher: “This was the fifth time we have tried to win in Australia and to be competitive at the start of the season. The first time I sat in the car I knew I would be able to fight for the championship right from the start. I was not worried yesterday: I thought Mika could celebrate pole and I could celebrate the win! We still have to work to improve our starts, but I could match the pace at the front and I decided to take it easy and push before the pit stops. I was disappointed when the McLarens retired as I would have preferred to race them to the end to show what we could do. Towards the end, I had no need to push and I let Rubens pass, as he had to make a second stop and he was fighting for second place. I am looking forward to the rest of the season. We have a car which will be competitive everywhere and we also know how to develop it.”

Rubens Barrichello: “I did not make a very good start and even though the car was good, I was stuck behind Frentzen. It is very difficult to overtake here. I tried very hard, but then I decided to back off. He was holding me up. I was talking to the team all the time on the radio and we decided to switch to a two stop strategy to get me ahead. My only problem was when I got neutral as I was leaving the pits. Now, I am looking forward to the next race. Maybe we can switch places so that I can win in Brazil.”