Published: 30/06/11, 04:08PM
Rubens Barrichello has indicated that he wants to stay at Williams into 2012 to help ensure the Grove squad’s current period of restructuring translates into improved fortunes on the track.
In wake of their worst ever start to a Formula 1 season, the nine-time constructors’ champions are making major changes in their technical department and earlier this week announced the impending arrival of two more experienced senior engineers to join recently-recruited new chief engineer Mike Coughlan.
Barrichello, who joined Williams at the start of 2010 fresh from challenging for the world title at Brawn with the aim of taking the squad back to the winners’ circle, admits the squad have to make a big step forward next year but wants to stay to see it happen.
“I’ve entered Williams because I believed in the project and I believed that with the kind of structure that they have, the great facilities and so on… [they can be successful],” he said.
“So there’s no ‘no’s’ in there; there’s lots of ‘yes’ and there’s lots of room for improvement. It’s very sad that we had a car that is not competitive this year because we had an okay car last year but we had to build it on [this year] which we did not do.
“Next year it’s got to be a big improvement, it’s got to be a big thing, and I want to be part of it as I have been for the last two years and that’s why I want to be present to make sure that we are actually making the step up.”
Williams hope the ongoing major reshuffle – which will also see long-time technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson depart at the end of the year – will allow them to turn the corner and eventually break back out of F1’s midfield ranks.
Speaking in Valencia, Barrichello said he was visiting the factory to meet Coughlan this week to find out about his plans for the team and next year’s car, adding that he has also been pleased to see that Williams have made improvements to the current FW33 in recent races despite the changes.
“I’m going to the factory on Monday to get to know Mike Coughlan. I want to hear what he has to say, what the structure he found at the team,” the Brazilian said.
“Obviously there’s been a month [since the announcement] with Sam still very involved in the team and making it go forward, but at the same time you don’t know who’s kind of where and who’s coming where…
“So it was a month that, at least at the first part of the month, it took a little longer for me to understand what was going on with the team.
“The team is working already on next year’s car under the supervision obviously of Mike right now, so I think with all that confusion the team actually did very well to improve this car and we were able to score a few points.”
The Grove outfit’s poor form had prompted speculation that 39-year-old Barrichello could look to leave the squad at the end of the current campaign, or even call time on his astonishingly-long F1 career, but the veteran says he remains fully motivated to play his part in a Williams revival.
“Why am I racing? It’s just because I love [it] too much, I have too much passion for this speed. It’s not the fact of going round [the track] – at the beginning [of the season] we were almost [just] going around,” he said.
“So we need to find the motivation and want to keep on fighting and hopefully the team will be able to strike for podiums and wins in the future.
“With all my experience you have to press the buttons that are available for you to press. So I need to be able to travel around [the factory] and get to know people that are working on the car to see what their ambitions [are] and see what the indications are and see what we can be here, and next year and so on.”
Credit: ITV (www.itv.com)
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