SAO PAULO, Brazil, Oct 23 (AFP) - Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said here Saturday that he hopes Rubens Barrichello can finally secure a home win in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Sao Paulo-born Barrichello has only finished once in 11 races at the Interlagos circuit and lost out on victory last year when his car ground to a halt while he was in the lead.
He spent most of this season backing up world champion team-mate Michael Schumacher, who scored 12 wins from the first 13 races to win the title, but he has won two of the last three races in Italy and China.
And after seeing Barrichello qualify on pole here Saturday Brawn said: "I hope he does win here. He has worked very hard this season, he has worked very well here, he has been very strong all weekend and he deserves it.
"He has the final step to go but that was a great run in qualifying."
Brazilian drivers have a terrible history in their home race and if Barrichello wins he will be the first home hero to do so since the late Ayrton Senna won for McLaren in 1993.
Even if he scores a point in front of the passionate samba-dancing supporters he will be the first homegrown driver to score any points since Senna died in the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.
But the Sao Paulo resident is determined not to succumb to the pressure and said he will head home to his young son Eduardo to forget about the challenge ahead in the season-ending race on Sunday.
"The pressure is already gone because I am going to sleep on my bed, which I love so much, and the thing that is going to take care of me is my son," said 32-year-old Barrichello.
"I will get home and play with my son. It is going to be nice, it is just a normal day and then I hope we have all the tickets sold out for tomorrow's race."
Barrichello will be the sole Ferrari out at the front at the start because team-mate Schumacher qualified eighth and dropped ten places following an engine change after a crash in practice.
But Brawn and Schumacher are hoping that the rainstorm that is heading for Sao Paulo arrives on time to soak the track and give the German the advantage of unpredictable conditions in the race.
"With Michael qualifying so far back we were a bit desperate for Rubens to do well and he held up the team," said Brawn.
"I would think Michael is frustrated and I think he is praying for rain tomorrow."
Schumacher left his team with just two-and-a-half hours to repair his car when he crashed into a tyre barrier at high speed at turn six after losing control at the end of the final practice session.
But the team had to resort to using the spare car and Brawn said: "With this format of regulations if you make a mistake like that, even in free practice, the race then becomes very difficult.
"The engine may not have been damaged there was a lot of extinguisher sprayed around it because there was a fire and we felt on balance it wasn't worth risking because it is a safety issue.
"It is not an easy track to overtake on and some of the teams further back are still pretty quick. From the qualifying you can see we have different strategies for the cars so maybe his strategy will help him recover a bit."
Ferrari have won 15 of the 17 races so far this year and will secure the record number of wins in a season outright if either Barrichello or Schumacher manage to cross the line first here Sunday.
10/23/2004 18:46 GMT - AFP