F1: Briatore Blamed Barrichello In Singapore

Formula 1

F1: Briatore Blamed Barrichello In Singapore

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore credited Rubens Barrichello with triggering the safety car in last year’s Singapore GP...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted September 02, 2009 Balen (BEL)

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore credited Rubens Barrichello with triggering the safety car in last year’s Singapore GP when questioned about Nelson Piquet’s role in the incident.

Briatore made the extraordinary comment in the immediate aftermath of last year’s race. In fact Barrichello’s Honda did slow and stop with a problem while running under the safety car, causing the yellow period to be extended.

But Flav’s assertion that he actually caused it would seem be an unusual interpretation of that day’s events, especially given the context of the current investigation.

SPEEDtv.com has revisited its interview recordings from that weekend and found the following exchange with Briatore, which took place just minutes after the race:

Q: You said you needed a miracle to win this race, and your miracle came true.

Flavio Briatore:The miracle was done by Fernando Alonso and the team, because everybody was working very hard for this result, and we are very happy.’

Q: Even Nelson Piquet chipped in. If not for his safety car, Fernando wouldn’t have been there.

FB: ‘We don’t know... No, because it was Barrichello, the safety car was out for Barrichello anyway.’

Q: A fantastic gamble to go light with the super soft tires?

FB: ‘You know what, we wanted to demonstrate to the organizers that it’s possible to overtake. We have only 13-14 laps, and after that – we had the soft tire it was a disaster for everybody, including us – we try to take the risk. It was impossible to overtake Nakajima, at this moment we take the risk to call Fernando in and fuel the car, with the right tyres, and see if something happened. And this is what happened.’

Q: What does this mean after two difficult years?

FB:‘I think so we were very competitive all weekend in Singapore. We were competitive because yesterday our car was good like anybody else’s, we were very unlucky. And today we had a little bit of luck, and after we had the best car in the circuit. It’s good to win in Singapore.’

Q: Is this going to help you keep Fernando?

FB:‘I don’t think it makes any sense talking about that. Fernando was with us before.’

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Adam Cooper

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