Barrichello - Gearbox changed is a precautionary measure

Rubens Barrichello has said that his gearbox change, which has earned him a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix, is a precautionary measure.

The Brazilian suffered a gearbox problem at the start of last weekend's Australian Grand Prix, where he made a bad start after the anti-stall kicked in and put him into neutral, and believes that the team is right to take no risks by continuing to race the unit.

"After the problem that we had at the start, they found something that might have been a problem," said Barrichello.

"I'm with the team when we say that it's better to take the gamble of changing here than in the following races."

Despite starting from no higher than sixth on the grid, Barrichello believes that it will still be possible for him to fight for his first Formula 1 win since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix.

"I don't discount myself going for a win," he said. "It is a disadvantage and I'm sorry for that, but at the end of the day that's the reality and I'm going to take up the challenge and see what I can do. I'm still in a great car."

Despite being confident of his chances for tomorrow's race, Barrichello is worried about the power of the cars equipped with KERS on the long run to the first corner.

"If KERS works well, with the boost you have you would probably overtake two rows of cars," said Barrichello. "Theoretically, you would expect to be overtaking."