Barrichello: « I changed the gearbox as a precaution »
The Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP driver, had to change his gearbox last night after free practice. The penalty is mandated by the regulations: five-place grid penalty. To clarify matters, the Brazilian admitted he had to change it as a precaution… Last weekend in Melbourne, Barrichello had a very poor start due to an issue […]
The Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP driver, had to change his gearbox last night after free practice. The penalty is mandated by the regulations: five-place grid penalty. To clarify matters, the Brazilian admitted he had to change it as a precaution…
Last weekend in Melbourne, Barrichello had a very poor start due to an issue where the gearbox didn’t immediately shift to Neutral. For the race, the team and he preferred to have a new gearbox: « In Melbourne, we had problems, and there I agreed with the team to replace the gearbox, it’s a precautionary measure to prevent it from breaking during the race… »
Barrichello will not be able to do better than a 6th position tomorrow on the Sepang grid. However, he believes he can fight for the victory in the second race of the season; Barrichello hasn’t won anything in F1 since the 2004 Chinese GP.
« I won’t be at the top because of the penalty, but I remain in a very good car and I hope to rise to the challenge tomorrow. »
The Brawn BGP 001 will have another challenge to face; resisting the single-seaters equipped with KERS and having a real advantage in the race.
