F1 San Marino GP 2002

Looking back on yesterday’s one-two finish in the

San Marino Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro technical director Ross

Brawn is delighted with the result of the team’s “home” race. “It was a

very good result. I would say it was perfect,” said the Englishman. “The

tyres were very good and I think Bridgestone are now very competitive in

all kinds of conditions. It was also a great race from the team who did a

good job in Rubens’s first pit stop to get him out ahead of Ralf

Schumacher.”

In fact, the Brazilian’s second pit stop was the only obvious sign of a

problem, when there were difficulties with the left rear wheel, but Brawn

admitted there had been one other worry. “We had a small glitch with

Michael’s steering wheel,” he admitted. “It did not respond the way we

expected it, so we had a spare steering wheel ready at the pit stop, just

in case.”

Although Schumacher and Barrichello dominated the race, Brawn admitted to

being nervous. “There is always a lot of tension in a race like that and in

that situation you are just looking at everything that might happen.

Everything was going well, so towards the end we were able to tell both

drivers to drop the engine revs and lower the temperatures.”

Although the Imola track was supposed to favour the BMW-Williams team,

Brawn does not regard this victory as a reason to relax. “We must still

expect to work very hard to the end of the season,” he maintained. “The car

is not perfect and we know what we have to do to improve it. There will be

some improvements for the next race in Barcelona, I hope. In this business,

to stand still means to go backwards, so the development has to continue.”