SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) - Rubens Barrichello said he is expecting no favours from Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Barrichello is bidding to turn around his miserable fortunes in his home race after finishing only once - when he came home fourth in 1994 - in 11 attempts.
The Brazilian has won two of the last three races but he is refusing to get carried away by predictions of a long-awaited home victory in the final race of the 2004 campaign.
And he admitted: "At the bottom of his heart Michael would like for me to finish quite well here but if he had to decide whether he was going to win or let me win I'm sure he would choose for himself.
"I'm not expecting any presents, I don't want any presents."
Barrichello, who is guaranteed of second in the championship behind Schumacher, posted his only retirement of the season at the last race in Japan when he collided with McLaren's David Coulthard.
The suspension damage suffered brought an end to his two-race winning run - following success in Italy and China - but Barrichello insists his confidence has not been knocked.
"I'm feeling as good as ever," he said. "I'm lucky that I can be here with a competitive car, in the state of mind that I'm feeling right now, just feeling good.
"To be honest, if I had got to Brazil without any wins (this season), feeling that this was the last race and trying to do that, it would have been very difficult, in terms of just a pure mind game.
"It would have been very difficult. I think the two race wins were fantastic. I had the speed to win the (Japan) race as well if it wasn't for the qualifying and so on, so I'm feeling good."
Other than team-mate Schumacher, Barrichello expects McLaren drivers Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen and BAR's Jenson Button and Takuma Sato to pose the biggest threat to his victory hopes.
And he believes the nature of the twisty Interlagos circuit - where rain is expected on Sunday - should ensure a close-fight throughout the field.
"McLaren is going to be quite strong here from what I've been seeing in terms of aerodynamics and so on," added Barrichello. "I think they have quite a quick car and I also think BAR will be very strong."
10-21-2004, 18h01