Rubens Barrichello
Barrichello at the USGP in 2002
Nationality	Brazilian
Car #	8
Current team	Honda Racing F1 Team
Formula One World Championship career
Races	252 (248 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	9
Podium finishes	61
Pole positions	13
Career points	519
Fastest laps	15
First race	1993 South African Grand Prix
First win	2000 German Grand Prix
Latest win	2004 Chinese Grand Prix
Latest race	2007 Chinese Grand Prix
2007 position	20th (0 pts)

Rubens Gonçalves Barrichello (born May 23 1972) is a Brazilian Formula One race driver of Italian descent. He currently drives for Honda.

Barrichello previously drove for Ferrari from 2000 to 2005 as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable success. Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006 makes Barrichello the most experienced driver on the grid. Barrichello grew up idolizing the late Ayrton Senna while Senna in return considered Barrichello his protege; as of 2007 Barrichello is the only driver left competing in Formula One to have raced against Senna, making Barrichello the only remaining link left to the Senna era of Formula One.

At the moment, Rubens Barrichello is the fifth in all time history Formula One drivers points.

Youth

Barrichello was born in São Paulo, as the son of Rubens Barrichello Juniór. Both his father and paternal grandfather are also named Rubens.^[1] Barrichello shares his father's birthday: May 23.^[2] Therefore, Rubens Barrichello is called Rubinho (Portuguese for little Rubens) and it became his nickname.

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.

Traumatic years

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 would not 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.

In the same year, 1997, he married with Silvana Giaffone on February 24. She is a couse of IRL Brazilian driver Felipe Giaffone (now a cousin-in-law for Barrichello) and a niece of the Stock Car Brasil champions, Affonso Giaffone Filho and Zeca Giaffone. Therefore, Barrichello became a member of a racing family of Brazil.

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.

Second to Schumacher

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. Barrichello 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.

Though Barrichello took good cars during his Ferrari era, he 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.

Move to Honda

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.

2006

Barrichello's lucky number is "11," which was the number his Kart bore when he won his first race. In the 2006 Formula One season, his new teammate Jenson Button gave the number for his car in goodwill. Thus, Barrichello seemed to be auspiciously faced the season. But, actually, he had to struggle 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 and finished in fourh. Though he lost a podium, it was the best result at the Monaco Grand Prix for Honda (as a team) and other Japanese teams. At the same race, he exchanged helmets with Tony Kanaan, a IRL Brazilian driver and one of his best friends that Barrichello sometime writes about Kanaan in his column[1] and calls him "Anão" (Portuguese for Dwarf). Kanaan also ran the 2006 Indianapolis 500 race with helmet of Barrichello at the same week-end of Monaco and it became a little topic.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.

2007

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. 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, until the French Grand Prix when Button scored Honda's first season point. He currently is classified 19th in the championship.

On July 19 2007 it was confirmed that he will drive for another season with the Honda F1 team.^[3] Providing he completes this season, he will break Riccardo Patrese's record for the driver that has competed in the most Grand Prix, a record that has currently stood for 14 years.

Complete Formula One results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
1993	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 193	Hart 1035 3.5 V10	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 12	MON 9	CAN Ret	FRA 7	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 13	JPN 5	AUS Ret				18th	2
1994	Total Jordan Hart	Jordan 194	Hart 1035 3.5 V10	BRA 4	PAC 3	SMR DNQ	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 7	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 4	POR 4	EUR 12	JPN Ret	AUS 4				6th	19
1995	Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 195	Peugeot A10 3.0 V10	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 7	MON Ret	CAN 2	FRA 6	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN 7	BEL 6	ITA Ret	POR 11	EUR 4	PAC Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret			11th	11
1996	Benson & Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 196	Peugeot A12 EV5 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 4	EUR 5	SMR 5	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 9	GBR 4	GER 6	HUN 6	BEL Ret	ITA 5	POR Ret	JPN 9				8th	14
1997	Stewart Ford	Stewart SF01	Ford VJ Zetec-R 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	MON 2	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 13	AUT 14	LUX Ret	JPN Ret	EUR Ret			13th	6
1998	Stewart Ford	Stewart SF02	Ford VJ Zetec-R 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 10	SMR Ret	ESP 5	MON Ret	CAN 5	FRA 10	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL DNS	ITA 10	LUX 11	JPN Ret				12th	4
1999	Stewart Ford	Stewart SF-3	Ford CR-1 3.0 V10	AUS 5	BRA Ret	SMR 3	MON 9	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 3	GBR 8	AUT Ret	GER Ret	HUN 5	BEL 10	ITA 4	EUR 3	MAL 5	JPN 8				7th	21
2000	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F1-2000	Ferrari 049 3.0 V10	AUS 2	BRA Ret	SMR 4	GBR Ret	ESP 3	EUR 4	MON 2	CAN 2	FRA 3	AUT 3	GER 1	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	USA 2	JPN 4	MAL 3			4th	62
2001	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2001	Ferrari 050 3.0 V10	AUS 3	MAL 2	BRA Ret	SMR 3	ESP Ret	AUT 3	MON 2	CAN Ret	EUR 5	FRA 3	GBR 3	GER 2	HUN 2	BEL 5	ITA 2	USA 15	JPN 5			3rd	56
2002	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2001 Ferrari F2002	Ferrari 050 3.0 V10 Ferrari 051 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 2	ESP DNS	AUT 2	MON 7	CAN 3	EUR 1	GBR 2	FRA DNS	GER 4	HUN 1	BEL 2	ITA 1	USA 1	JPN 2			2nd	77
2003	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2002 Ferrari F2003-GA	Ferrari 051 3.0 V10 Ferrari 052 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL 2	BRA Ret	SMR 3	ESP 3	AUT 3	MON 8	CAN 5	EUR 3	FRA 7	GBR 1	GER Ret	HUN Ret	ITA 3	USA Ret	JPN 1				4th	65
2004	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2004	Ferrari 053 3.0 V10	AUS 2	MAL 4	BHR 2	SMR 6	ESP 2	MON 3	EUR 2	CAN 2	USA 2	FRA 3	GBR 3	GER 12	HUN 2	BEL 3	ITA 1	CHN 1	JPN Ret	BRA 3		2nd	114
2005	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2004M Ferrari F2005	Ferrari 054 3.0 V10 Ferrari 055 3.0 V10	AUS 2	MAL Ret	BHR 9	SMR Ret	ESP 9	MON 8	EUR 3	CAN 3	USA 2	FRA 9	GBR 7	GER 10	HUN 10	TUR 10	ITA 12	BEL 5	BRA 6	JPN 11	CHN 12	8th	38
2006	Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda RA106	Honda RA806E 2.4 V8	BHR 15	MAL 10	AUS 7	SMR 10	EUR 5	ESP 7	MON 4	GBR 10	CAN Ret	USA 6	FRA Ret	GER Ret	HUN 4	TUR 8	ITA 6	CHN 6	JPN 12	BRA 7		7th	30
2007	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda RA107	Honda RA807E 2.4 V8	AUS 11	MAL 11	BHR 13	ESP 10	MON 10	CAN 12	USA Ret	FRA 11	GBR 9	EUR 11	HUN 18	TUR 17	ITA 10	BEL 13	JPN 10	CHN 15	BRA			20th*	0*

*Season in progress.

Personal

• Rubens is married to Silvana and they have two sons, Eduardo (b. 2001) and Fernando (b. 2005)
• Barrichello supports the Brazilian football team Corinthians.^[1]

References

External links

• The Official Website for Rubens Barrichello
• Rubens Barrichello career statistics at Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Mika Häkkinen	British Formula Three Champion 1991	Succeeded by Gil de Ferran
Records
Preceded by Andrea de Cesaris 22 years, 308 days (1982 United States GP West)	Youngest Grand Prix Pole Position Winner 22 years, 97 days (1994 Belgian Grand Prix)	Succeeded by Fernando Alonso 21 years, 237 days (2003 Malaysian GP)

Constructors and drivers competing in the 2007 Formula One championship
McLaren	Renault	Ferrari	Honda	BMW	Toyota	Red Bull	Williams	Toro Rosso	Spyker	Super Aguri
1 Alonso 2 Hamilton	3 Fisichella 4 Kovalainen	5 Massa 6 Rikknen	7 Button 8 Barrichello	9 Heidfeld 10 Kubica	11 Schumacher 12 Trulli	14 Coulthard 15 Webber	16 Rosberg 17 Wurz	18 Liuzzi 19 Vettel	20 Sutil 21 Yamamoto	22 Sato 23 Davidson
Other drivers who have participated in the 2007 season: Albers • Speed • Winkelhock

•  • [ e] Honda Racing F1
Personnel: Nick Fry | Yasuhiro Wada | Shuhei Nakamoto Current drivers: Jenson Button | Rubens Barrichello | Christian Klien | Mike Conway Formula One cars: RA271 | RA272 | RA273 | RA300 | RA301 | RA302 | RC100 | RA099 | RA106 | RA107