Barrichello insists: I’m not ready to quit

Editor

Rubens Barrichello’s belief he can turn things around at Williams is fuelling his desire to avoid finally walking away from Formula One…

Rubens Barrichello’s belief he can turn things around at Williams is fuelling his desire to avoid finally walking away from Formula One.

The Grove-based marque are currently enduring by far their worst start to season in their history as they have yet to score a point after five grands prix.

For Barrichello, celebrating his 39th birthday and now in his 19th year in F1, you would think the temptation to quit would at least be starting to gnaw away at him.

In particular after a wretched Spanish Grand Prix when he started 19th and finished 17th.

But with an F1 record of 307 starts to his name, not a bit of it for the Brazilian who instead is determined to ease his own pain and that of the team.

Asked if he was considering his options, with 13th his highest finishing position this year, Barrichello replied: “Not at the moment.

“Right now I am frustrated by the fact I am driving my balls off and finishing nowhere.

“The car’s not there, you are fighting all the way, but having said that it’s just too early to think about walking away.

“Driving a bad car is never bearable. It’s never good enough, but I have this big motivation to turn things around.

“I asked (Sir) Jackie Stewart before the race ‘Jackie tell me why I still love this thing so much when I’m starting from 19th?’

“I could stay at home and enjoy being with my kids, but I need this. I need the adrenaline, and I need to be able to turn things around.

“I’m sure I will, but I’m suffering here at the moment.”

The current crisis resulted in technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson resigning, albeit continuing in their positions until the end of the season.

By way of controversy, Mike Coughlan – the man at the heart of the ‘spy-gate’ scandal – returns to F1 next month as Williams’ new chief engineer.

Barrichello is hoping the restructure will aid matters given the way the team is seemingly fragmenting at present.

“The team is going through a tough period, and right now the family needs to hang on and create a nice environment,” added Barrichello.

“There’s a bit of individualism here and there, a few different opinions.

“We just need to wait until Mike Coughlan comes in and hopefully that will give us direction with some technical leadership.

“It’s too easy to blame, to say ‘You did this’. It’s not going to make it any better. It’s almost cuddling time to get things going.”