Rubens Barrichello has issued a full retraction of the remarks he made following a frustrating German Grand Prix in which he finished sixth.
Barrichello felt the strategy employed by his Brawn team had lost him the race and went as far as to say so in a post-race interview with the BBC. Many were shocked at the aggressive tone Barrichello took with his employers, with veteran team boss Frank Williams later describing Barrichello’s outburst as ‘a red-card offence’.
But yesterday Barrichello took back what he had said through the medium of his Twitter feed.
“I was very upset yesterday but I am over it,” he wrote.
The veteran Brazilian went on to toe the team line, which was that the Red Bulls had been considerably quicker than their own cars, and a race win was always out of the question.
“I would not have won the race as the Red Bulls were half a second faster per lap, but third was very possible without the pit problems.”
In so saying Barrichello echoed his team boss Ross Brawn’s statement that a malfunctioning fuel rig, rather than any deliberate strategy decision, had cost Barrichello the chance of a strong finish.
The ex-Ferrari driver maintained that his championship chances were still alive even though he has slipped to fourth in the standings.
“I will fight [while] I have chances for the championship,” he said. “I promise. It was a tough day yesterday but I am over it now.”
