The first news of the Austrian GP weekend comes courtesy of Ferrari.  On Thursday afternoon, the Italian team announced at the A1-Ring that it had extended its contract with Rubens Barrichello to the end of the 2004 season. The Brazilian’s previous contract expires at the end of this year. When the newly-signed contract expires, Barrichello will have completed twelve seasons as a grand prix driver.  "That's something I could never have imagined or planned for," reckoned Rubens. "I always had an open mind about things like this.  The future is the future and I tend not to think about it. At 29, I am still very young, but I have a mixture of youth and experience, as I have already been driving for ten years."

In fact, Barrichello (152 GP starts) is the second most experienced driver on the grid, behind team mate Michael Schumacher (166 GP starts.) "I have to say that this news gives me an extra boost for the Austrian GP weekend," added Barrichello, who started his grand prix career with the Jordan team. "An important aspect of the new contract is that there was no sense of me having to ask repeatedly for it. It was arranged by common and mutual consent as we agreed it was very good for both parties. We both wanted to keep the relationship going. Now, we are in Austria, a circuit which I like and I hope I can get a lot out of it. It's looking good."