RUBENS BARRICHELLO

He says he feels just as good as he did when he was 16… and from his voice’s timbre you might deduce that he’ll carry on until he’s 60. Rubens Barrichello is the most experienced driver in the history of the Formula One world championship, but his appetite shows no sign of diminishing. “Yes, I have been doing this for quite a while,” he says, “but I’m still incredibly enthusiastic.”

 

Barrichello’s 2009 team-mate Jenson Button might have won last season’s world championship for Brawn Grand Prix, but the Brazilian’s own performances were often just as much of a story. Some observers had written him off as a credible F1 force, but dominant, beautifully judged victories in Valencia and Monza disproved that particular notion.

 

Like most contemporaries, Barrichello cut his teeth in the world of karting – and at an early age he showed signs of the canny approach that would ultimately carry him to the sport’s pinnacle. “The first time I raced a kart in the wet,” he says, “I wasn’t very good. Next time it rained in São Paulo, I rushed to the Interlagos kart track and spent half a day driving around on slick tyres to learn how to cope with slippery conditions. When I subsequently fitted wets, I was suddenly a master. It was unbelievable.”

 

He has put such lessons to great use throughout his enduring F1 career. He obtained his maiden pole position (Spa, 1994) when he plumped for slicks on a damp but drying track. He scored his first F1 win (Hockenheim, 2000) in the rain… from 18th on the grid. At Silverstone in 2008 he swept from the lower midfield to finish third after being the only driver to select the correct tyre at a critical moment. And at the Nürburgring last year, he ignored his team’s wishes by aborting a lap during a rain-hit qualifying session because instinct told him slick tyres would be better than the intermediates everybody else was using. His mechanics were incredulous, but Rubens was right.

 

After a successful karting career, Barrichello switched to cars in 1989 before following the European trail blazed by many a compatriot. He won the GM Opel Euroseries in 1990, his first full season of competition away from home, and one year later pipped future Williams F1 racer David Coulthard to the British Formula Three title. A consistent campaign in the 1992 FIA F3000 Championship yielded third in the final standings, albeit with no wins, and at the age of 20 he then graduated to F1 with Jordan. In his third race, the Grand Prix of Europe at Donington Park, he ran as high as second and looked set to finish third until his fuel pressure dipped towards the end. Rubens has subsequently driven for Stewart, Ferrari (with whom he scored the first nine of his 11 grand prix wins), Honda and Brawn, so Williams is his sixth F1 team in a career that will be 18 seasons old in 2010. When he raced for Honda in the 2008 Turkish GP, it heralded his 257th world championship start and beat a record previously held by former Williams driver Riccardo Patrese. By the end of the 2009 season he had increased that tally to 284 and he is on course to break the 300 barrier this year.

 

“I chose to continue my career with Williams because these are very exciting times and I believe the moment is right,” he says. “There is a fantastic atmosphere at the factory and this is a successful team that clearly wants to get back to winning ways. Williams did a really good job in 2009 – and now I’m part of the team I’ve had a chance to study just how much they developed the car last season. I had no idea and I’m really impressed.

 

“The renewed alliance with Cosworth is encouraging, too, because the two companies have a long and proud association and have won championships together, so I really can see Williams returning to the top of the podium. What can I offer? Well, I think I’m driving better than ever. In addition, Nico Hülkenberg and I provide the perfect blend of youth and experience. He can learn from me and, even at 37, I’m sure there are a few things I will be able to learn from him.”

 

Barrichello appreciates that a different approach will be required this year. “In recent years grands prix have been a flat-out blast between pit stops,” he says, “but the refuelling ban means cars will be much heavier at the start of a race and it will be crucial to take more care of engine, tyres and brakes. In those areas, my experience will be a huge benefit. It’s funny that Michael Schumacher and I will be the only drivers on the grid who have previously completed a full grand prix distance without refuelling – teams haven’t operated like that since 1993, my first F1 season.”