22/10/2004
NEWS STORY
Jean Todt: It feels a bit strange being here in Interlagos at the end of the season, rather than in the early stages of the championship as in the past. This is the first day of the final race weekend of what has been an extraordinary year for Ferrari. As usual on Friday, we worked on defining the best set-up for the car and on evaluating the two types of Bridgestone tyre at our disposal. From what we have seen so far, once again, the Japanese company has done a great job. Over the two hours of practice, the track condition improved with every passing car. The times look very close which leads one to believe that both qualifying and the race will produce a close fight.
Rubens Barrichello: I am very pleased and listening to the reaction of the crowd brought a smile to my face. More than that, the car has been behaving quite well throughout today's sessions. It is well balanced and the team has done a good job. Now, we just have to keep our cool and try and improve the car even more and I am sure we will be competitive for the rest of the weekend. The track surface has more grip than last year, but there are still some bumps.
Michael Schumacher: It was a complicated day as I seemed to run into a lot of traffic out on the track. It made it quite difficult to push to the end of the programme we had set ourselves, but I guess it is the same for everyone here and we have enough data to know which way to go on set-up. I am not sure where we are in terms of consistency of performance, but over a single lap, we look very strong. The track is very bumpy which adds to the difficulty, but all in all, we are looking good and should be in the fight for the win. Being first and second is a wonderful start to the weekend.
Ross Brawn: Two very good sessions for us, although the car was not so well balanced at the start of the morning. Then, as the track cleaned up and the engineers made some adjustments, the car improved and now seems very good. We evaluated both types of tyre and I think it will be a close decision between them. The tyres seem very consistent and the drivers are happy with their cars. If we can make a bit more progress tomorrow, we should be in good shape for the race.