Rubens Barrichello

Barrichello driving for Jordan at the 1993 British Grand Prix.

In Barrichello's third race, the European Grand Prix, he started from 12th place in very wet conditions but was fourth by the end of the first lap. He ran as high as second and was running third, having passed the Williams of Damon Hill and Alain Prost, before encountering a fuel pressure problem. His Jordan's reliability in 1993 was poor, and he finished few races. Barrichello regularly outpaced his more experienced teammates, Ivan Capelli and Thierry Boutsen. In the French Grand Prix, he almost scored his first Grand Prix point (and the team's first that year) but Michael Andretti passed him on the final lap for the sixth and final points-scoring position. His only points finish of the season came at the Japanese Grand Prix with fifth place, ahead of his new teammate Eddie Irvine. These 2 points put him in 18th place in the standings.

1994 started with a fourth place in Brazil and a third place at Aida, which was his first podium position. These results put Barrichello in second place in the drivers' ranking, behind Michael Schumacher, who had won the two races. However, at the San Marino Grand Prix, he suffered a violent crash during Friday practice, hitting the wall at the Variante Bassa and flipping the car. The accident knocked him unconscious and threatened his life, with his tongue blocking his airway.[11] Barrichello credited the on-track work of Sid Watkins for saving his life.[12] The race weekend saw a succession of serious accidents, of which two were fatal: Roland Ratzenberger died during Saturday's qualifying session when he crashed his Simtek at the curva Villeneuve, while on Sunday, during the race, Barrichello's mentor Ayrton Senna crashed his Williams at Tamburello and also died. Barrichello was deeply affected by the deaths.

Later in the season, he took pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, and led some laps at Estoril. His pole position at Spa-Francorchamps set the record for the youngest driver to secure pole position at that time. He concluded the season with fourth place in Adelaide. He finished the season sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship with 19 points, outscoring Irvine, who scored six.

Barrichello driving for Jordan at the 1995 British Grand Prix

During the 1995 season, Barrichello scored a second-place finish in Montreal, but the Jordan cars were less reliable than in 1994 mostly because Jordan took over the works Peugeot engine contract from the McLaren team. In three races he lost seven points on the final lap—a high-speed collision with Mark Blundell at Silverstone, and mechanical failures at Barcelona and in Hungary. Barrichello finished the season in 11th with 11 points, one ahead of Irvine.

There were high hopes for 1996. The Benson & Hedges cigarette brand brought an infusion of sponsorship to the team. Barrichello was amongst the frontrunners in Brazil, the second race of the season, before spinning off after his brakes overheated.[13] However, as the season progressed, Jordan became less competitive. Barrichello's relationship with team owner Eddie Jordan soured during 1996, and at the end of the year, after being linked to strong teams, including Benetton (the seat was later filled by Gerhard Berger due to the Austrian bringing in more sponsorship),[14] he left for the newly formed Stewart Grand Prix. His final season at Jordan resulted in 14 points.

Barrichello at the 1997 Canadian Grand Prix

Stewart's debut season in 1997 saw frequent reliability problems,[15] and Barrichello finished only three races. The highlight was a second-place finish in Monaco, which put him 13th in the standings. Teammate Jan Magnussen scored no points. The same year, Barrichello married Silvana Giaffone on 24 February. She is a cousin of Brazilian Indy Car driver Felipe Giaffone and a niece of the Stock Car Brasil champions, Affonso Giaffone Filho and Zeca Giaffone.

1998 was not much better for Stewart, with two fifth places being the team's best results. Despite the poor reliability of the team, Barrichello consistently beat teammate Magnussen, which resulted in the latter being dropped at the French Grand Prix, replaced by Jos Verstappen, another teammate beaten by Barrichello.

1999 was a much better year for the Stewart team. Barrichello qualified third at his home race in Brazil, outpacing Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, and led some laps, until his engine blew near 'Subida dos Boxes'. He also took pole position in the wet qualifying session in France, and three podium finishes, at the San Marino, French, and European Grands Prix. The latter race was won by his teammate Johnny Herbert. Despite this, Barrichello again generally outpaced his teammate. Over the course of the year, he caught the eye of Ferrari boss Jean Todt, and he was signed for the 2000 season.

Barrichello in his Ferrari at the 2002 United States Grand Prix

In 2000, Barrichello achieved his first Grand Prix victory at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, when he and the team chose to stay on dry-weather tyres when it was raining on part of the circuit.[16] This risky call saw him leap-frog the McLarens who chose to pit for wet weather tyres to win the race, having started from 18th on the grid.[17] This was the longest any driver in Formula One history had waited for a maiden Grand Prix win at the time.[18] Barrichello had a consistent debut season for Ferrari, finishing most races on the podium, but was outscored by Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard. Barrichello finished the season ranked fourth after supporting Schumacher as he battled and defeated Häkkinen for the Drivers' Championship, and helping Ferrari win the Constructors' Championship.

Barrichello qualifying for the 2005 United States Grand Prix

Barrichello finished the 2001 season in third place, achieving a total of 10 podium finishes and scoring a total of 56 championship points. He nearly achieved a win in Monza, in which the Ferrari pit crew performed badly.[19] He finished the season winless, and again he played a major supporting role for Schumacher, helping him win his second Drivers' Championship with Ferrari and helping the team win the Constructors' Championship for the third consecutive year.[20]

Barrichello's success at Ferrari continued in 2002, when he won four races for the team and finished a career-best second place in the Drivers' Championship, scoring 77 championship points. The year was marked by controversy, however, when Ferrari team orders required Barrichello to allow the trailing Schumacher to pass him on the final straight of the Austrian Grand Prix to take victory.[21] Schumacher exchanged podium places with Barrichello at the podium ceremony and gave Barrichello the winner's trophy.[22] The drivers were fined for disrupting podium protocol and Ferrari's blatant team orders led to the FIA banning team orders beginning in 2003.[23][24]

Barrichello's No. 2 status at Ferrari was made obvious after he moved over to let Michael Schumacher win at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.

Barrichello finished the 2003 season in fourth place, scoring 65 points, including wins at Silverstone and Suzuka, and again played a crucial role in helping Schumacher and Ferrari win the drivers' and Constructors' Championships. In the 2004 season, Barrichello finished second behind Schumacher in only seven of the first thirteen races, but he won both the 2004 Italian Grand Prix and the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix to clinch second place in the championship, finishing the year with 114 points and 14 podiums. Though Barrichello had good cars during his Ferrari era, his best result at his home race was a third place in 2004. He failed to finish eleven of the fifteen Brazilian Grands Prix in which he has competed.

In the 2005 season, Ferrari lacked the pace of previous years because of the changing of tyre rules.[25] Ferrari used Bridgestone tyres, which were less effective than those of their competitors Michelin.[25][26] Barrichello's best results this season were two second places in Melbourne and then at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, when all the Michelin-running cars retired after the formation lap, leaving only six cars in the race.[27] He finished the season in eighth place in the drivers' standings with 38 points, his worst season with Ferrari.

In an August 2022 interview with Felipe Massa, he states that Barrichello had a contract with Ferrari running until 2006, after which he was to be replaced with Kimi Raikkonen for the 2007 season. But in early 2005, Honda had approached him to drive for them, and unhappy with the treatment Ferrari had given him, decided to ask the team to terminate his contract in 2005. He was thus replaced by Felipe for the 2006 season.[28]

Barrichello at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix

In August 2005 he announced that he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of the year to join Honda.[29] Barrichello's lucky number is "11," which was the number his kart bore when he won his first race. In 2006, his new teammate Jenson Button gave Barrichello the number for his car in goodwill. Barrichello was initially outpaced by Button, and claimed that the car did not suit his driving style, particularly under braking. After modifications to the car he was able to be more competitive. In Monaco, he nearly got his first podium with the team, but then he was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and finished fourth. Though he lost a podium, it was the best result at the Monaco Grand Prix for Honda (as a team) or any Japanese team. For the race Barrichello exchanged helmet liveries with Tony Kanaan, a Brazilian Indy Car driver and one of his best friends. On the same weekend, Kanaan raced in the 2006 Indianapolis 500 race using Barrichello's helmet livery. Barrichello qualified third for the Chinese Grand Prix, ahead of Schumacher and Räikkönen. He finished the season seventh in the drivers' standings with 30 points, 26 behind Button.

Barrichello driving for Honda at the 2007 British Grand Prix

Barrichello did not score any points during the 2007 season, because of the Honda RA107's lack of pace. Despite retiring only twice, a ninth place in the British Grand Prix was his best result of the season and he only once qualified in the top 10. Despite this, Honda confirmed on 19 July 2007, that Barrichello would remain with the team as a race driver for the 2008 season.[30] This gave him the opportunity of making the five race starts he required to break Riccardo Patrese's record for the driver that has started the most Grands Prix, a record that had stood for 14 years.

In the first race of the 2008 season, Barrichello qualified 10th, ahead of Button. He finished 6th but was disqualified for ignoring a red light at the pit exit. He also received a stop-and-go penalty during the race for entering the pits while they were closed during a safety car period. In Malaysia, gearbox problems limited his performance and he finished 13th. In Bahrain he again finished out of the points.

The Turkish Grand Prix was Barrichello's 257th Grand Prix, breaking Patrese's record of 256 Grand Prix starts and becoming the most experienced driver in F1 history. The particular Grand Prix at which he broke this record has been disputed, as he technically did not start some races, such as the 2002 Spanish Grand Prix,[31] but Barrichello and Honda chose Turkey to be the location of the official celebrations.[32]

In Monaco, he scored his first points since 2006 and in Canada he scored consecutive points, finishing 7th after starting in 9th position. He led some laps because of the appearance of the safety car, but fell back down the order towards the end of the race. At Magny-Cours, Barrichello did not repeat his performance from the two previous races and qualified in 17th. After a gearbox change, he dropped to 20th. In the race, he finished 14th.

Barrichello driving for Honda at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix

At Silverstone, which he said he considers to be his second home, he qualified 16th, outpacing Button. With heavy rain on race day, through good use of an extreme wet tyre he finished 3rd, achieving his first podium since 2005. However, in Germany, a collision with David Coulthard ended his hopes for points. In Hungary, he was lapped by the leader, repeating the same performance in Valencia. In Belgium he qualified 16th but had to retire because of a gearbox fault. At a wet Monza, he was second-fastest in Friday practice and started from 16th on the grid. He managed to get up to 9th but as a result of using the wrong type of tyre in his second pit stop he ended up 17th. At the first ever night race in Singapore he was in a good position to score some points after pitting before the pit lane closed for the safety car period, but shortly afterwards the engine failed and he had to retire. In Japan he started from 17th on the grid, but managed to get up to 13th by the end of the race. In China he managed to get into Q2 for the first time in ten races, and would have started 14th. But after Mark Webber had his ten place penalty for an engine change added he was moved up to 13th. On race day he had a good start, and got up to 10th early on and held a strong mid-table position all race and finished 11th, five places ahead of Button, who had struggled all weekend.

At his home Grand Prix in Brazil, he was sporting an alternative helmet design in tribute to Ingo Hoffmann, and finished 15th.[33][34]

On 5 December 2008 Honda announced that they were quitting F1, because of the economic crisis. This led to months of uncertainty as to whether a buyer could be found, and whether they would retain Barrichello.

Barrichello at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix

Just weeks before the season opener in Melbourne, team manager Ross Brawn purchased the Honda team, renaming it Brawn GP and removing the threat of possible closure.[35] Barrichello was the subject of persistent rumours suggesting he would lose his seat to the young Bruno Senna, nephew of his friend, idol and mentor Ayrton Senna.[36] Ultimately Brawn elected to retain Barrichello to partner Jenson Button in 2009. At Barcelona during the final pre-season test, both Barrichello and Button surprised the paddock with extremely competitive lap times, outperforming others by as much as two seconds, and foreshadowing the performance the team would show in the early races.[37]

In Melbourne, Barrichello topped the timesheets in the first two elements of qualifying, but qualified second on the grid behind teammate Button.[38] Despite a poor start caused by his engine slipping into anti-stall, he did well to recover and lost only a couple of positions at the start. However, he sustained damage to the front wing and rear diffuser in the first corner incident when he was bumped from behind by Heikki Kovalainen in his McLaren that saw him hit Mark Webber in the Red Bull damaging Webber's car as well as his hopes of a good finish. Despite this, Barrichello ultimately finished the race in second place after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided with just 2 laps remaining.[39] He started eighth in Malaysia after getting a grid penalty for a gearbox change and finished the race in fifth place after the race was abandoned at Sepang due to heavy rain.[40]

Barrichello at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix

At Shanghai, he outpaced Button in qualifying, but struggled with his car's brakes when one of them stopped working in the first stint and finished in fourth, recording the race's fastest lap.[41] In Bahrain, his front wing adjustor failed during his qualifying run thereby compromising his aggressive 3-pit-stop race strategy, and thus managed only fifth place.[42] He qualified third on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix,[43] but overtook Button and second place man Vettel on the first straight, to lead the race in the first corner. He was unable to capitalise on his three-stop strategy as a result of a lack of pace caused by massive amounts of understeer on his third set of tyres in his third stint, finishing behind Button, who changed to a 2-stop strategy during the race.

At Monaco, Barrichello was pipped for pole by a late-charging Button and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen.[44] A good start saw him leapfrog the Finn into Sainte Devote. Barrichello's supersoft tyres did not last as well as Button's in the first stint and he pitted earlier than planned, and Button took a commanding lead. The top three remained unchanged for the duration of the race, save some reshuffling during the pit stop windows.[45] At the completion of lap 47, Barrichello became the driver who has completed most laps in Formula One history, surpassing Michael Schumacher's total of 13,909 laps.[46] In Turkey, he again had gearbox problems and retired for the first time in the season,[47] leaving Button to increase his points advantage, while in Britain, Barrichello qualified second behind Vettel, before beating Button for the first time in 2009 en route to third place.[48]

Barrichello at the 2009 German Grand Prix

In Germany, Barrichello took the lead at the first corner but after his first stop, he came out behind Felipe Massa who held him up. A fuel rig problem during his second stop meant that he finished the race in sixth, a place behind teammate Jenson Button. After the race he publicly blamed Brawn GP saying "It was a good show from the team in how to lose a race" and "They made me lose the race".[49] Team principal Ross Brawn said of the incident "He had the 11th-fastest time of the race. You can't win a race with that speed". However, he refused to criticize Barrichello for his outburst.[49] Barrichello has since admitted he overreacted, and he would not have won as the Red Bull cars were half a second a lap quicker than him.[50]

In Hungary, the Brawn cars struggled and lacked pace because of problems with the tyres and aerodynamics. Barrichello finished 10th, his first finish outside the points in 2009, and three places behind Button.[51] In Valencia, Barrichello took his 10th Grand Prix win, his first in five years and the 100th win by a Brazilian driver in Formula One, allowing him to move up to 2nd in the Championship.[52] He paid tribute to injured compatriot Felipe Massa with a plaque on the top of his race helmet.[53]

Barrichello won his second Grand Prix of the season in Monza

At Spa, he qualified 4th,[54] but suffered from anti-stall for the third time in 2009 and he found himself last, but missed the first lap crash which took out four drivers including teammate Button.[55] While the safety car was out he pitted and changed strategy which enabled him to climb back up to 7th. During the last three laps the car had an engine oil leak, but he still managed to finish, before his car caught fire in the pit lane after the race. At Monza, he qualified 5th, despite carrying more fuel to try a different strategy with only one stop.[56] After passing Kovalainen at the start, Barrichello managed not to lose too much time, as he had the advantage of just one stop against Hamilton, Räikkönen and Sutil's two-stop strategy. By Hamilton's second pit stop, Button and Barrichello were running first and second. Hamilton tried to pressure Button by forcing his car, but on the last lap he crashed, giving third place to Räikkönen, and fourth to Sutil. Barrichello won the 11th race in his Formula One career, and gained more points on Button in their fight for the world title.[57][58]

In Singapore, he had to change his gearbox and take a five place grid penalty.[59] During qualifying he crashed his car while in fifth place. As a result of Nick Heidfeld starting from the pitlane, Barrichello would start 9th and finished sixth, while Button finished fifth.[60] In Japan, he originally qualified 5th, but was given a five place grid penalty for failing to slow down during a yellow flag situation near the end of Q2 when Sébastien Buemi crashed.[61] He was on course to finish fifth with Button behind, which would have been enough for Brawn GP to clinch the Constructors' Championship, but a safety car period in the closing stages of the race for Jaime Alguersuari's crash meant that Nico Rosberg and Heidfeld were able to stay out ahead and save fuel, dropping Barrichello to seventh.[62] With Button finishing eighth, Barrichello closed the points deficit to fourteen and putting Brawn almost out of reach for the Constructors' title.

In Brazil, Barrichello claimed pole in a rain-soaked, qualifying session with title rivals Button and Vettel down the order in 14th and 16th, respectively.[63] A puncture cost Barrichello a chance of taking the title to the final race, as he failed to secure enough of an advantage over Button to do so. Button finished fifth to become champion. In Abu Dhabi he qualified and finished 4th. With Vettel winning the race, he secured second in the standings, with Barrichello finishing third in the championship with 77 points.[64]

Barrichello driving for Williams at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix

In 2010, Barrichello was offered a contract by McLaren. He did not accept because he had already signed a contract with Williams, and did not want to renege on his pledge to that team. The McLaren seat was ultimately filled by Barrichello's 2009 teammate Jenson Button.[14] On 2 November 2009, Williams confirmed Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg as their official race drivers for the 2010 season.[65] This meant that Barrichello would be in Formula One for at least another season, and would go on to become the first driver in Formula One history to compete in over 300 Grands Prix.[66]

In pre-season testing, Barrichello finished at the top of the timesheets once, because of rain. In some sessions, he was outpaced by his rookie teammate Hülkenberg. Williams was the second team in terms of kilometres covered and showed some reliability, but were off pace from front-runners Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren.

At the first race of the season in Bahrain, Barrichello qualified eleventh on the grid, and finished tenth in the race. In Australia, he went on to finish eighth, moving him to within two points of Senna's mark. He stalled on the grid in Malaysia due to an overheating clutch, but recovered to twelfth place at the finish. In China, he finished twelfth again. In Spain he benefited from Lewis Hamilton's late crash to score two points, finishing in 9th, despite starting 18th on the grid and equalling Senna's record.

In Monaco, he qualified ninth and moved up to sixth position through the first corner. Later, he had a suspension failure caused by a loose drain cover and crashed heavily.[67] After crashing he threw the car's steering wheel out, as he was sitting in the middle of a 120 mph corner with his car on fire. This was then run over by Karun Chandhok's Hispania.

At the Turkish Grand Prix, he qualified fifteenth. Due to an overheating clutch at the start, he dropped down to 20th position. A poor pit stop failed to help his cause and he finished in fourteenth position. It was similar at the Canadian Grand Prix, when Barrichello again finished in fourteenth. He qualified eleventh, narrowly missing Q3 but his anti-stall system kicked in at the start of the race. After recovering well, he later collided with Jaime Alguersuari when Alguersuari came across too late to cover his line, the damage blocking Barrichello's left brake duct.

In Valencia, the Williams team brought big upgrades and ran their version of the F-duct. Barrichello qualified ninth with the same time as his teammate Hülkenberg. He was running seventh when the safety car was deployed at the end of lap nine, and pulled straight into the pits. When the safety car pitted he was able to fend off Kubica to finish fourth, his highest finish so far of the season. Post-race, nine cars were investigated for speeding under the safety car, and were later given a five-second penalty. This made no difference to Barrichello's position, and he became the highest-scoring Brazilian driver in Formula One history, overhauling Ayrton Senna's career tally of 614 points, that Barrichello had been tied on since the Spanish Grand Prix. He added further points to his total with fifth at Silverstone, and tenth in Hungary, with a twelfth at Hockenheim in between.

Barrichello at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Barrichello celebrated his 300th Grand Prix at the Belgian Grand Prix, but retired in damp conditions after colliding with Fernando Alonso's Ferrari on the first lap. Before the race, he was elected as Chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to replace the outgoing Nick Heidfeld.[68]

At Monza, he qualified in tenth, and had a rather lonely run in the race to finish in the same place to score another point. In Singapore, the FW32 sported a new front wing,[69] and Barrichello put this to good use to set the sixth fastest time in qualifying, although Williams technical director Sam Michael reckoned the car was fast enough to be a couple of positions higher. In the race despite losing places to Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg at the start, Barrichello had a solid run to sixth at the finish. In Japan, he qualified in a strong seventh, he raced strongly before fading to ninth as he was overtaken by the two Saubers towards the closing stages of the race.

In Korea he qualified tenth despite being blocked by Michael Schumacher. In a wet race he suffered heavy tyre wear on the intermediates that he was running on, and in the closing stages of the race he was passed by Robert Kubica and Vitantonio Liuzzi, dropping him to seventh place at the finish. At Interlagos he qualified a strong sixth in variable conditions with teammate Hülkenberg starting from pole position. After a delayed pitstop, his traditional bad luck on home soil returned when he suffered a puncture after briefly colliding with Jaime Alguersuari, costing him any chance of scoring points. In Abu Dhabi he again qualified strongly in seventh place, and maintained that position shortly after the start. However, when the safety car was deployed following Michael Schumacher's and Vitantonio Liuzzi's crash, many drivers like Robert Kubica, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg took advantage of this by pitting early. This had a negative effect as they did not need to pit again, and Barrichello finished outside of the points.

On 15 November 2010, Williams confirmed Barrichello as one of the team's drivers for the 2011 season.[70] His teammate in 2011 was Pastor Maldonado.

In Australia he retired with a transmission problem. He retired again in Malaysia with leaking hydraulics. He finished outside the points in the next three races before a pair of ninth places in Monaco and Canada. He came twelfth in Valencia, and thirteenth in Britain, but retired in Germany because of an oil leak. After that, he finished every race outside the points, but made no further retirements. His final race at the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix was a quiet farewell where he finished 14th, ahead of former teammate Michael Schumacher.

In a 2022 interview, Barrichello revealed he was fired by Frank Williams through a phone call in early January 2012,[71] and on 17 January 2012, Williams confirmed that Bruno Senna would replace Barrichello at Williams for the 2012 season.[72] Senna was chosen due to his financial backing.

Former Caterham F1 team principal Manfredi Ravetto said in an interview that a contract was signed with Barrichello to replace Kamui Kobayashi for the final three races of the season, providing the car would be competitive. It was not, and the Caterham team went into administration, so Barrichello did not join the team.[73]

^† As Barrichello was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

^‡ Half-points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

(key)

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd- or 3rd-place finishes

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th- through 10th-place finishes

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Ineligible for championship points.
^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
^* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)