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Barrichello Already Released from Contract?
Topic Started: Aug 2 2005, 12:49 AM (66 Views)
Dewy9
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7X Raceski Cup Champion
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Quote:
 
Barrichello is poised to swap Ferrari for BAR

Alan Henry
Monday August 1, 2005
The Guardian

Rubens Barrichello has been released from the balance of his contract with Ferrari and is poised to sign to drive for BAR-Honda for the next two seasons.The plan is for the 33-year-old Brazilian to partner Jenson Button in a "dream team" capable of challenging for race wins from the start of 2006. But the decision to sign the man who has filled the exacting role of Michael Schumacher's team-mate for almost six years is also seen as a bet-hedging exercise in the event of Button being forced to abide by his contract with the Williams team next year.

Formal confirmation of the deal, which will see Barrichello's fellow Brazilian Felipe Massa inherit his position in the Ferrari team, is expected this week and Barrichello remained tight-lipped yesterday before the Hungarian grand prix.
Barrichello was contracted until the end of 2006 but is being released by mutual agreement. He seemed irked that speculation over his planned move had been fanned after Nelson Piquet, the former triple world champion who won the inaugural Hungarian grand prix in 1986, told Brazil's O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that the deal was done.

"The fact is that I have nothing to say, more than I already said - that I have a contract with Ferrari and that's it," he said. "I haven't actually talked to Nelson so if that's the story, he should stick to his son's career more than keep on saying things about the others." Piquet's son competes in the junior GP2 category, a supporting series at grand prix weekends.

Nick Fry, the BAR-Honda team principal, would not comment on the issue beyond confirming that the team definitely "have a plan B" in the event of Button having to switch to Williams.

Signing Barrichello looks like a shrewd move. Relations between the Brazilian and Schumacher have become progressively more strained throughout the season, Barrichello infuriated by the way in which the world champion barged past him on the last lap at Monaco to claim sixth place and then edged him off the road at Indianapolis when he looked set to snatch the lead of the ill-starred US grand prix.

From BAR's viewpoint, Barrichello represents quite a catch. With nine grand-prix wins under his belt since succeeding Eddie Irvine in the Ferrari squad at the start of 2000, he brings with him the knowledge and experienced gleaned from working with Ferrari during the most successful period in the team's history.

He is also the ultimate team player, quietly determined and very focused, but rarely rocking the Ferrari boat on the many occasions he was required to defer to Schumacher, most notoriously at the 2002 Austrian grand prix where he was ordered to relinquish the lead on the final lap.

If Button eventually drives for Williams it is possible that Takuma Sato might be retained to drive alongside Barrichello, but equally likely that the erratic Japanese driver might be dropped and replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella or Nick Heidfeld.

Frank Williams had no more to say about Button's contractual obligation in 2006, but Bernie Ecclestone added his weight to the view that the British driver will eventually have to drive for Williams.

"It would seem he has a contract with Frank," he said. "That's it. OK, things change, but it's always been the same in formula one and in life. You make a decision, you hope you get it right, but if you sign a contract, you sign a contract."

The vexed issue of formula one tobacco sponsorship continued to be blurred by uncertainty even though this was the final race at which tobacco-branded cars could race within the European Union.

That uncertainty was highlighted by the fact that the Ferrari, Renault and Jordan teams ran with branded livery while the BAR-Honda cars competed with no branding whatsoever on their bodywork or team uniforms.

Last week Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for health, wrote to the FIA president Max Mosley confirming that, because of a pending case before the EU court of justice on the EU tobacco advertising directive, the European commission has been unwilling to give member states guidance on the sponsorship provisions across member states.

In practical terms this seems to mean that images of tobacco-branded formula one cars, racing outside the EU, will be permitted to be televised inside the EU until the FIA's global ban on tobacco advertising comes into effect at the start of October 2006.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/formulaone/sto...1540079,00.html


I don't know how reliable that is...

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