Rubens Barrichello will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur for the second round of the world championship on Wednesday. “I enjoyed a few days in Brazil, spending time with my family and also having more treatment on my back, which is now much better,” said the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver. “I left Brazil on the Saturday before heading for Malaysia, stopping off on the way to acclimatise to the hot and humid weather, which is always a factor at this race.”

The opening race of the season provided plenty of excitement for race fans, but it also gave all the teams plenty to think about, as they analysed how the new sporting regulations affected their performance. “I think we learnt a lot, as a team, when it comes to dealing with the challenges of the new regulations and I guess that learning curve will continue throughout the whole year,” was the Brazilian’s assessment of the coming months. “Already, for the second race weekend in Sepang, we will be carrying out some aspects of our work and preparation in a different fashion to the way we tackled it in Melbourne. I think the first area we need to look at, is how we operate during the Saturday warm-up session before qualifying in the afternoon. In Melbourne, we found that we wanted to make changes to set-up, but we were really struggling to find the time. It is the same situation for everyone and I trust the Scuderia to get on top of the job very quickly and efficiently.”

Confident that the F2002 is a very competitive car and with the knowledge that Ferrari has an excellent track-record in Malaysia, Barrichello is looking to open his points account at the Sepang circuit. “As for the race in Malaysia, I am hoping for a very good weekend,” admitted Rubens. “In Australia everything was fine until a combination of factors, on top of a major mistake, put me in the wall there and spoilt the race for me. I am sure that even if I had made it back to the pits to pay the penalty for the jumped start, I could have picked up some points there. So now, I am tackling this second race with a fresh mind and I am optimistic.

“The weather can always be a factor in Malaysia and I suppose everyone is waiting to see what might happen if it starts to rain halfway through qualifying. It is bound to happen at some point in the season and with the sudden storms which can occur in this part of the world, I suppose there is a chance we might find out quite soon. There is no point worrying about it: you just have to concentrate on the job. There is no mystery about the new rules, you just have to deal with them.”