Fighting talk from Ferrari

As usual for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers, their first appointment at the racetrack was with the media. Rubens Barrichello was first behind the microphone and he started by saying that he and Michael Schumacher would be fighting again this weekend: not each other, "but fighting together to get Ferrari winning again as soon as possible."

And if the Drivers' championship might look like an unlikely goal now, the Brazilian still sees a need to keep pushing as hard as possible. "The Constructors' title is a more realistic possibility, so we need to start bring home some big points from the coming races."

However, Barrichello would not allow himself to make optimistic predictions for this weekend. "I was confident for Silverstone, but although the car was consistent, it was not quick enough," he maintained. "But last week in testing we made some steps forward in terms of tyres and aerodynamics, so we should be strong here. All we can do is try and get even more out of the car package."

The last question for the Ferrari man concerned discussions regarding the possible future format of qualifying. "At first, I thought the one lap idea was good, but now I think we need to get back to qualifying on low fuel with new tyres. Qualifying needs the Wow factor, so maybe a return to 12 or 8 laps would be the way to go."

Michael Schumacher's first question centred on his testing earlier this week in Mugello. "I did a lot of laps, fine tuning the car for this event," he revealed. "The new aero package seems good," he said, echoing his team-mate's opinion. "And the tyres we have here are also new, developed at the Paul Ricard test. But I have to say I am not going to make optimistic remarks about this weekend, because I was optimistic coming back to Europe after Indianapolis and the results were not good."

Before coming to the circuit, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello took part in a charity event organised by team sponsor, Vodafone. It was certainly an unusual event and something neither driver had tried before. Some paint was spread on a "canvas" measuring four square metres on the ground and the two Ferrari men had to "paint" a picture, by driving quad bikes over the paint.

Once they had done this, they were allowed to add the finishing touches with paint brushes. "I do not know a lot about art!" commented Michael after the event. "This is more Jean Todt's area, but I was delighted to use my driving skills in a way I have never used them before." As for Rubens, he tried to write his signature on his painting using the quad bike, "but I couldn't do it," he laughed.

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