Rubens Barrichello’s 2004 season has got off to a very busy start. There was little time to celebrate Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s positive start to the season, as shortly after crossing the finish line in Melbourne in second place behind his team-mate, the Brazilian was on a flight back to Europe for a couple of days testing duties at the Valencia circuit in souothern Spain.

'It’s a very long flight,' sighed the Brazilian. 'But that is all part of my job. I was really keen for the season to start. We had done so much testing that I really wanted to get back to racing. It was a nice feeling seeing the red lights go out on the grid in Melbourne, especially as I was watching them from the front row. It confirmed that the car was working the way we had expected. I felt proud that, at the end of the day, Ferrari still seems to be on top of its game. The F2004 is more complete as a car than last year’s and it shows great scope for improvement.'

Although Barrichello is not prepared to make predictions about the outcome of the championship after just one of eighteen races, the Brazilian was intrigued to face new opponents in Melbourne. 'There had been a lot of speculation before the start of the season that teams like Renault and BAR-Honda had made a step forward and that seemed to be the case in Australia,' said the Brazilian. 'In fact the only speculation that proved not to be true concerned Ferrari: we were faster than people had expected. In all the pre-season gossip, the F1 commentators appeared to be overwhelmed by the nose on the BMW-Williams, thinking that a car had to look different to be quick. At the launch of the F2004, observers seemed disappointed that it did not look so different to the 2003 car and therefore reached the wrong conclusion about our performance.'

While Barrichello had no problems with the new one engine per weekend rule, simply observing that you had to keep the though in the back of your mind during the course of practice, he was less impressed with the new qualifying format. 'When we had the first qualifying on Friday, you had to push hard all the time,' he recalled. 'For example, at Silverstone last year, I had a spin in the first qualifying, but was able to recover to take pole the next day and then win the race. But with the new one-day format, the first half of the session is much less exciting. I think there was no point to the first half, with no one taking any risks, so it is not so entertaining for the public. Personally, I would like to see the format changed, possibly back to last year’s rules and I don’t think I am alone in that.'

So what lessons does the Ferrari man draw from the opening race of the season? 'I predicted that Renault would be quick this year and they are. It is nice to see other teams like BAR-Honda challenging as it provides some variety. But I am more excited about the fact that our car seems to be going well.'