Thursday October 11th, 2001
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello is hoping he will not need the help of teammate Michael Schumacher as he bids to clinch the runner-up spot in the Drivers' Championship at Suzuka this weekend.
Barrichello, who is yet to score a win this season, wants to overhaul David Coulthard for himself and claimed he hopes to do so without the aid of Schumacher.
"I hope that I don't have to use him (Schumacher) to help me," Barrichello said. "He let me past in Indianapolis because I was on a two-stop (strategy) and he was on a one-stop so we had to help each other then. It's a bad thing to let somebody by.
"At the end of the day, you work for a team and you just have to agree with so many things that probably you wouldn't like to. Sometimes it's fair, sometimes it's not. I hope he doesn't have to let me by. I hope things will be different."
Barrichello added that he believed that he has shown his worth to Ferrari since Schumacher landed the world crown and proved he can compete in his own right.
"I think that after the team won the Championship with Michael it has been proved that with a little bit of help and a little bit more attention I can do the job," he added.
Barrichello is seven points behind Coulthard in the Championship, so the Ferrari driver will need to win in order to finish in second place, while the Scot must not finish higher than fifth.
Published at 09:34:11 GMT