13.09.2004 "I thought that maybe it would be the first race without scoring points" Jean Todt reflects on what turned out to be an amazing Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari

Ferrari’s Jean Todt admitted that he feared that neither of his cars might score a point in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, yet at the chequered flag Rubens Barrichello led home teammate Michael Schumacher in the team’s eighth one-two of the year.

In a race that started on a damp track, Barrichello initially used wet tyres, but Schumacher started on dries.

“It was the drivers’ choice,” explained Todt after the Scuderia’s 180th victory. “I think it was a question mark. I think it was a good move although neither driver was sure what was the best choice.

"They made a different choice and at the end of the day, it didn’t make any difference to the final result.”

Yet six laps into the race, they were ninth and eleventh. “I thought that maybe it would be the first race without scoring points,” admitted Todt. “Then I thought one or two points, and slowly but surely the points were improving.”

It was only as the race developed that the Ferraris began to show their potential pace, as Todt explained. “Really we started to see how quick we could be with Michael but he was still quite far behind. Then at the time when Rubens was very close to the three in front of him we thought that overtaking would be very difficult.

"So it was a little risky to change the strategy from two stops to three, but it was a guess and it was a good one, even if, when you see Michael’s race, I’m not sure it really changed a lot, because when you see how the race ended we were due to finish first and second.”

Todt emphasised that it had been “very important” for Barrichello to win, having had to follow Michael Schumacher home so many times this year. “It is important for everybody,” he continued. “It is for his spirit. It’s very tough when you are always close to being first but you have your team mate in front of you, so I think it’s a good injection of vitamin.”

Rubens Barrichello had suggested that this is the best season that Ferrari has ever had, and Jean Todt agreed – with reservations. “Yes, but 2002 was not a bad season, huh? We won 15 races out of 17, we scored 221 points with the old points system, so I think it was an outstanding season. Maybe this season is more spectacular, but I think it’s very close and we still have three races to go, so we have to see the final situation, we need to wait three races.”

Todt explained that they could be using the same rear tyre construction which brought them victory in Hungary in August. “We are testing them next week, so we can’t answer before we test. We are also doing some work on aero parts in Mugello, and we have been testing for the 2005 programme at Fiorano.”

Jean Todt backed up president Luca di Montezemolo’s words from the previous day about the future of Formula One and its supremo, Bernie Ecclestone. “Clearly I feel that we should share more revenues, but that’s not a secret. Formula One for obvious reasons, as long as you have major manufacturers involved, will cost money and then it’s very difficult for the small teams to get engines and to find the money, and the economic situation is not very good, so definitely, there is a risk of losing teams next year: one, two, three and then it will definitely damage Formula One.”

The next race is in China, entirely new territory for Formula One, but one to be cautious of. “I’ve been to Shanghai for the opening of the circuit, because we were opening our showroom as well and it’s unbelievable, just unique what they have done. I last went to China about 15 years ago for the Paris-Moscow-Peking rally when I was working for another company and the evolution of China is simply amazing.

“What they have been building and the time in which they have built it, is unbelievable. Concerning Ferrari, we produce over 4500 cars. This year we will sell about 50 cars in China, hoping that we will 100 cars next year. We just took a licence with China, so before we are able to compare China to the United States, which is over 30 percent of our market, it will take a long time but countries like China, Russia, India definitely have a huge potential, and they could be the countries for the future.”