Worrying win for Todt

Michael Schumacher drove much of the Spanish Grand Prix with a cracked exhaust pipe and team principal Jean Todt was worried right up until the Ferrari took the chequered flag. While the fault didn't affect Schumacher's performance, there was always a chance it could have overheated other components. Luckily for Ferrari it didn't, allowing Schumacher to take his fifth win of the season.

Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt celebrate victory.

Photo by Ferrari Media Center.

"I don't think you ever win a race without some sweat," said Todt. "Obviously, we suffered from the eleventh lap to the end when we realised that Michael had a problem due to an exhaust breakage."

"When it first happened, we realised it would be difficult for him to finish the race, but as the race continued, we realised that he could still race and he wasn't going to be prevented from maintaining his pace. But it's true that up to the moment he crossed the finish line, there was a lot of worry, even if we could still count on Rubens who was in second place."

Ferrari had suffered a similar problem previously in Monaco but that time the team was not so lucky. "It all depends in which direction the exhaust is leaking and in Monte Carlo it was leaking in a bad direction," Todt explained. "This time it was okay, because you know whatever the team did, if it would have been blowing on the suspension, there was little we could have done."

Despite Ferrari's phenomenal reliability, Todt still worries that a failure might come at any time. "I cannot say that we were relieved after (Spain's) race because, anyway, we are expecting that we will fail, sooner or later -- hopefully as late as possible -- but still, I think, we are the reference for the others."