Rubens Barrichello is Formula One's most experienced driver of
all times. When the 2011 season finishes in November, he will have
taken part in all 326 Grand Prix held since 1993. This is counting
the two events that he did not qualify for (San Marino, 1994 and
Spain, 1999), the two events where he couldn't start due to
technical difficulties (Spain and France, 2002) and one
disqualification after the race had finished (Australia, 2008). The
Brazilian has been racing with Williams since the start of the 2010
season, but his future there seems far from secured.
Rubens started his F1 career with the team of Eddie Jordan at
the 1993 South Africa GP. During the 1993 season he would have no
less than five different teammates (Capelli, Boutsen, Apicella,
Naspetti and Irvine). BarIrvine, none of them could really make an
impression on the team. Rubens was the only constant atJordan,
where in his debut season he would only be beaten once by a
teammate (when Boutsen edged him for 11th in the Spanish GP).
Barrichello and Irvine were both retained at Jordan through the
1995 season, during which the Ulsterman could only beat Rubens
twice. TheJordanproved to be a very unreliable car, with few
finishes. But when Rubens could bring the car home, he always did
so between 2nd and 11th place, in a 26-car field. The Brazilian
notched up his (and Jordan's) first podium position at the 1994
Pacific Grand Prix, a feat that made him immortal within the team.
During the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, Rubens would even go one
better, securing second place, behind Jean Alesi's Ferrari, and
ahead of teammate Irvine in third. Whenever an opportunity arose,
Rubens would certainly take it.
But despite that, it was Eddie Irvine who got a Ferrari seat in
1996, alongside Michael Schumacher. Barrichello stayed
withJordanfor a fourth consecutive year, and notched up several
more points. In the process, he comfortably beat his much more
experienced teammate Martin Brundle. Still, the season, during
which he never set foot on the podium, left Rubens disappointed and
he left the team.
From 1997 onwards, he would drive for the new Stewart GP-team,
headed by triple world champion Jackie Stewart. 1997 proved to be a
dismal season for the Brazilian, during which he could only finish
three of the seventeen races. He picked up the team's only points
with a fantastic second place at the Monaco Grand Prix, the team's
only high of the season. For 1998, Barrichello and young Jan
Magnussen were retained. Even though the car remained unreliable,
Rubens continued to outshine his young Danish teammate, resulting
in Magnussen being dropped for Jos Verstappen from the French GP
onwards. Rubens' best results were a pair of fifth places.
1999 was a better year for the team, with Rubens taking pole
position at the French Grand Prix as well as three podium finishes
(San Marino, France and Europe). The latter was won by
Stewart-teammate Johnny Herbert. Ironically, it was the first time
that year Herbert was able to beat Barrichello.
From 2000 onwards, Barrichello would famously drive for Ferrari,
replacing old teammate Eddie Irvine. From 2000 through 2005 he won
9 races, 11 poles and 15 fastest laps. However, it was clear that
Ferrari had only room for one champion, being Michael Schumacher.
Rubens was clearly the number two driver, about which we can best
talk as little as possible. Even though Barrichello's Ferrari-days
had brought him a lot to be proud of, that desired world
championship still eluded him.
When Barrichello wasn't even allowed to fight Schumacher for the
infamous 2005 Indianapolis GP, Rubens knew that he had nothing left
to gain at Ferrari. For 2006 he moved to the BAR-team, partnering
Jenson Button. In 2006, the team performed well, with Button and
Barrichello able to form a healthy on-track rivalry and off-track
friendship. Their inter-team battle lasted all season, with Button
eventually becoming only the second man ever to beat Rubens over a
whole season (Schumacher being the first). From 2007 BAR would
become Honda, and Rubens would enter his worst ever season in F1.
He would not score a single point during 2007, even though he would
finish in all but two GP. Even though Button was far less reliable,
the Brit was able to take home six points. In 2008 things didn't
fare much better for Honda, with Barrichello taking home eleven
points and one podium, contrast to Button's three points overall.
After two dismal seasons, Honda pulled out of Formula 1 at the end
of 2008. After 271 races, it looked like Barrichello's career in F1
was over.
However, at the eleventh hour, Ross Brawn was able to save the
Honda-team. A renamed Brawn GP would retain both Barrichello and
Button for 2009, which turned out to be a fairytale. Brawn GP would
win both titles on their first attempt. Button and Barrichello were
often able to fight each other for the win, but it was clear that
the Brit had a little bit of extra speed over the Brazilian. In the
end, Button's six wins, opposed to Barrichello's two gave him the
championship.
Frank Williams was able to lure Barrichello to Williams for
2010, with the prospect of being the team's main driver. Nico
Hülkenberg was signed as his teammate. 2010 became yet another
season where Rubens could beat a highly regarded teammate, but he
didn't have the car to shine with. He showed the fire was still
burning, though, at his 300th Grand Prix inHungary, where he was
able to keep a fearsome Michael Schumacher at bay for tenth place.
For 2011, things got even worse. Hülkenberg was replaced with
paydriver Pastor Maldonado, and the car proved to be even slower
than the 2010-model. To date, Rubens has only scored four points,
with Pastor on just one.
For 2012, Williams has signed an engine-deal with Renault,
bringing back a lot of memories to their successful partnership in
the nineties. The technical staff has gone through a massive
transformation, with Sam Michael being the main casualty.
Barrichello remains hopeful about the future, but it is yet to be
seen whether he will be at Williams again.
The team has been talking to both Adrian Sutil and 2007-champion
Kimi Räikkönen, although both their managers have downplayed any
rumours. A lot of other names have been linked to his
Williams-seat, mainly Hülkenberg, van der Garde, Senna and
Grosjean. All of these would bring money, something the Williams
team could well use, as opposed to paying a respectable retainer to
Barrichello, who, as it seems, is unable to bring the team what it
expects from him.
But all doesn't seem lost for Rubens. His vast experience and
famed technical abilities seem to have caught the eye of a couple
of other teams. Firstly, ForceIndia. If Sutil were to go to
Williams, it seems there is a reasonable chance the Indian team
would sign Barrichello alongside Di Resta. Sutil is far from able
to extract the most from his car, and, despite him making far less
mistakes these days, his technical input is far from impressing the
team. With a man like Rubens, the Indians might be able to maximize
the performance of their car better.
The Renault-team also seems to be an option, even though they
already have Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov in their cars, and
Robert Kubica and Romain Grosjean waiting in the wings. Because of
the relative in experience of their current line-up, a veteran like
Rubens might be a valuable asset. The team, however, is terrified
of making another 'Heidfeld'-esque mistake. If Rubens would perform
like Heidfeld did in 2011, there would be no real point in signing
him as a racing driver.
Even if Rubens will not be able to find a race seat for 2011, it
seems likely he will be in F1 in some capacity. As far as a test
and development driver goes, there would be few better capable for
the job.