Rubens Barrichello: Difference between revisions

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Rubens Gonçalves Barrichello (born May 23 1972) is a Brazilian Formula One race driver. He currently drives for Honda. He is best known for being Michael Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari from 2000 to 2005, enjoying considerable success. Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006 makes Barrichello the most experienced driver on the grid. At present (2007) Barrichello is the only driver competing in 2007 to have raced against Ayrton Senna.

Born in São Paulo, Barrichello was an extremely promising driver in his youth, winning five karting titles in Brazil before going to Europe to race the Formula Lotus series in 1990. In his first year, he won the championship, a feat he replicated the following year in the British Formula 3 Championship, beating a young Briton named David Coulthard. He very nearly joined Formula One at just 19 years of age but joined Formula 3000 instead. There would be no title, but a solid third place did little to hurt his value, and he promptly joined the Jordan Formula One team for the 1993 season.

Barrichello had an effective rookie year. In his third race, European Grand Prix, he started from 12th place in very wet conditions but was 4th by the end of the first lap. He went as high as second and was still an incredible third before encountering a fuel problem. Unfortunately, the car's reliability was poor during the whole 1993 season and there were few finishes. Nevertheless, Barrichello regularly outpaced his more experienced teammates. In the French Grand Prix, he came close to scoring his first point (and the team's first that year) but lost out to Michael Andretti in the final lap. The only point finish of the season came finally at Suzuka with fifth place, ahead of his new teammate Eddie Irvine. 1994 started well with a 4th place in Brazil and a 3rd place at Aida that put him in second place in the Drivers ranking. But Rubens' career was very nearly curtailed at the tragic San Marino Grand Prix, where a violent crash during practice knocked him unconscious, nearly killing him. His spirits were not any better after his mentor Ayrton Senna's death at the race two days later. Despite this deep personal loss, Barrichello recovered his confidence and raced strongly in the remainder of the races - including a pole position at Spa-Francorchamps. At the time he was the youngest driver to secure pole position. He finished an excellent sixth in the Drivers' Championship, top of the drivers outside the established manufacturer-backed teams.

A similar year with the team followed in 1995, the highlight being a second place finish in Montreal. There were high hopes for 1996, with the Peugeot engine maturing in a reliable and powerful unit and fresh money brought to the team by Benson & Hedges. Indeed things started well, Rubens being amongst the frontrunners in Brazil before the car let him down. However as the season unfolded it turned out that Jordan wouldn't be a regular contender for the win. His relationship with team owner Eddie Jordan soured during 1996, and he left for the newly formed Stewart Grand Prix in 1997. It was a difficult first year for the team, and Rubens only finished three races all year. The obvious highlight was a second place finish in Monaco. 1998 was not much better for Stewart, but Rubens continued to perform well. He consistently beat teammate Jan Magnussen, which resulted in Magnussen being dropped at the French Grand Prix, replaced by Jos Verstappen. 1999 was a much better year for the Stewart team. Rubens qualified 5th in the seasons opening race, and managed to take pole position in the wet qualifying session in France. He also took three podiums, in Brazil, San Marino and at the European Grand Prix, which was won by teammate Johnny Herbert. Barrichello had the better of the battle, though, and caught the eye of Ferrari boss Jean Todt, and he was signed for the 2000 season.

He achieved his first victory in Hockenheim that year in his 123rd race, the longest wait for a driver's maiden win, despite having started from 18th on the grid. "Rubinho", as he is often known, continued to be successful in the following years thanks to Ferrari's dominance of Formula One: he managed to finish second behind Schumacher in the 2002 championship, as Ferrari ran away from the rest of the field.

He managed to achieve only four victories during this time. However, team orders forced the Brazilian to cede to Schumacher one potential victory, the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, where he slowed down at the last turn of the race for Michael to take victory. Such behaviour eventually led to team orders being banned in 2003.

In the 2004 season, Barrichello finished second behind teammate Michael Schumacher in only seven of the first thirteen races, but he won both the Italian Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix to clinch second place in the championship, finishing the year with 114 points and 14 podiums.

During the 2005 Formula One season Barrichello was becoming increasingly agitated at having to be so subservient to Schumacher. In August 2005 he announced that he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of the 2005 F1 season to join Honda. He struggled to get on top of the car early in the 2006 season and was initially outpaced by his team-mate Jenson Button, claiming that the car did not suit his driving style, particularly in its braking style. After modifications to the car he was able to be more competitive. At the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, he nearly got his first podium with the team, but then he was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying, he sat in the press conference with the Renault drivers, beating out Schumacher and Räikkönen for the 3rd spot.
Barrichello and Button remain as race drivers for 2007, with Christian Klien replacing Anthony Davidson as third/reserve driver. So far the Honda RA107 has been uncompetitive compared to Hondas of previous years, with both drivers yet to score points. Two 10th places at Monaco and in Spain are the best Barrichello could muster. Despite the struggles, he has fared well against Button in 2007, beating the Brit in all races they finished together. He currently is classified 16th in the championship, two places ahead of Button.

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (June 2007)

• The nickname of Rubens Barrichello is Rubinho (little Rubens).

• Barrichello has been very unlucky at his home race, as he has failed to finish ten of fourteen Brazilian Grands Prix in which he has competed. His best result was a third place in 2004.

• Rubens Barrichello is cousin-in-law to IRL Brazilian driver Felipe Giaffone, because his wife, Silvana, is a cousin of Felipe and a niece of the Stock Car Brasil champions, Affonso Giaffone Filho and Zeca Giaffone brothers.

• Barrichello's lucky number is "11" that he won first time in Kart and many times in his Kart era. In 2006 Formula One season, the car number was gifted from his team mate, Jenson Button. Excluding the 2006 season, he also carried this number in the 1996 season in Formula One.

• One of his best friends in racing car drivers is Tony Kanaan. Barrichello sometime writes about Kanaan in his column[1] and calls him "Anão" (Dwarf).

• The names of his father and paternal grandfather are also Rubens.^[1] And the birthday of his father, Rubens (Rubens Júnior), is the same day of Rubinho: May 23.^[2]

• The Brazilian football team that Barrichello supports is Corinthians.^[1]

• Rubens is also a devout Roman Catholic.

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

*Season in progress.

Rubens is married to Silvana and they have two sons, Eduardo (b. 2001) and Fernando (b. 2005)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rubens Barrichello.

• The Official Website for Rubens Barrichello