Barrichello has just been unlucky, says Brawn

By Alan Baldwin

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Rubens Barrichello has been unlucky this season but still has what it takes to be a Formula One frontrunner, his team boss Ross Brawn said on Friday.

The 36-year-old Brazilian, the oldest driver on the starting grid, has been on the podium just once in four races while Brawn GP team mate Jenson Button has won three and finished third in the other.

Barrichello is second overall, 12 points behind the Briton and one clear of Red Bull's young German Sebastian Vettel.

"I think Rubens has had a little bit of bad luck," Brawn, the former Ferrari technical director who worked closely with the Brazilian when Barrichello was Michael Schumacher's team mate at the Italian team, told a news conference at the Spanish Grand Prix.

"I know luck shouldn't come into it but I think in China he was looking very strong, in fact probably for a dry race he was in better shape than Jenson.

"But then in the wet he had a problem with the brakes, one of the brakes glazed over on the rear which made life very interesting for him.

"In the last race, in Bahrain, the front wing adjustor failed during his qualifying lap and the front wing flap dropped down," added Brawn.

"We'd gone for a pretty aggressive strategy and that meant being at the front (of the grid) and he didn't achieve it because we had a problem with the car."