Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves Barrichello is a Brazilian racing driver and broadcaster, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for Full Time Sports. Nicknamed "Rubinho", Barrichello competed in Formula One from to, and twice finished runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in and with Ferrari; he won eleven Grands Prix across nineteen seasons. In stock car racing, Barrichello is a two-time champion of the Stock Car Pro Series in 2014 and 2022 with Full Time Sports.
Born and raised in São Paulo, Barrichello started his career in karting, winning several national titles before progressing to junior formulae in 1989. Barrichello moved to Europe the following year, winning his first title at the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries before his victory at the 1991 British Formula Three Championship with West Surrey. He progressed to International F3000 in 1992, finishing third in his rookie season. Barrichello signed for Jordan in, making his Formula One debut at the. He retained his seat for, achieving his maiden podium at the and qualifying on pole for the as he finished sixth in the World Drivers' Championship. After two further seasons with Jordan—scoring another podium at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix—Barrichello signed with Stewart for his campaign. Amidst a reliability issues-plagued debut season driving the SF01, Barrichello finished only three races, including second-place in Monaco. After a difficult campaign, Stewart improved greatly in, with Barrichello taking several as well as another pole position at the.
Barrichello signed for Ferrari in to partner Michael Schumacher, taking his maiden victory at the that year. Barrichello twice finished runner-up to Schumacher in and, contributing to five consecutive World Constructors' Championships for Ferrari with 51 podium appearances in 85 Grands Prix. After enduring a winless season, Barrichello joined Honda—later known as Brawn GP—in, finishing third in the World Drivers' Championship in and contributing to a sixth Constructors' Championship. He moved to Williams in, being appointed chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. After two years with Williams, Barrichello retired from Formula One, having achieved eleven wins, fourteen pole positions, seventeen fastest laps and 68 podiums, the latter of which remains the record for a non-World Champion.
Outside of Formula One, Barrichello competed in the IndyCar Series in 2012 with KV Racing Technology. He then returned to Brazil to participate in the Stock Car Series, winning the championship in 2014 and 2022. In endurance racing, Barrichello finished runner-up at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2016 with Wayne Taylor Racing. From 2013 to 2014, he was a commentator and pundit for TV Globo, later leaving to co-host motorsport YouTube channel Acelerados.
Early life
The paternal side of his family comes from Veneto, Italy. His maternal side of the family is of Portuguese origin. Both his father and paternal grandfather are also named Rubens, and Barrichello shares his father's birthday: 23 May. Therefore, Rubens Barrichello was known as, which has become his nickname.Barrichello won five karting titles in Brazil before going to Europe to race in the Formula Vauxhall 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 David Coulthard. He very nearly joined Formula One, the highest category of single seater racing, at just nineteen years of age. Instead he competed in Formula 3000 in 1992. He finished third in the championship, and joined the Jordan Formula One team for the 1993 Formula One season. During this time, and also early in his Formula One career, Barrichello lived in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Formula One career
Jordan (1993–1996)
In Barrichello's third race, the, he started from twelfth 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, he almost scored his first Grand Prix point 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 with fifth place, ahead of his new teammate Eddie Irvine. These two points put him in eighteenth place in the standings.started with a fourth place in Brazil and a third place at Aida, which was his first podium finish. These results put Barrichello in second place in the drivers' ranking, behind Michael Schumacher, who had won the two races. However, at the, 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. Barrichello credited the on-track work of Sid Watkins for saving his life. 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, Barrichello took pole position at the, 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 nineteen points, outscoring Irvine, who scored six.
File:Rubens Barrichello 1995 Britain.jpg|thumb|right|Barrichello driving for Jordan at the 1995 British Grand Prix|272x272px
During the 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 eleventh with eleven points, one ahead of Irvine.
There were high hopes for. 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. 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, he left for the newly formed Stewart Grand Prix. His final season at Jordan resulted in fourteen points.
Stewart (1997–1999)
Stewart's debut season in saw frequent reliability problems, and Barrichello finished only three races. The highlight was a second-place finish in Monaco, which put him thirteenth 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 drivers Felipe and Affonso Giaffone, and a niece of the Stock Car Brasil champions Affonso Giaffone Filho and Zeca Giaffone.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, replaced by Jos Verstappen, another teammate beaten by Barrichello.
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 season.
Ferrari (2000–2005)
In, Barrichello achieved his first Grand Prix victory at the at Hockenheim, when he and the team chose to stay on dry-weather tyres when it was raining on part of the circuit. 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. This was the longest any driver in Formula One history had waited for a maiden Grand Prix win at the time. 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 finished the season in third place, achieving a total of ten 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. 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.
Barrichello's success at Ferrari continued in, 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 to take victory. Schumacher exchanged podium places with Barrichello at the podium ceremony and gave Barrichello the winner's trophy. The drivers were fined for disrupting podium protocol and Ferrari's blatant team orders led to the FIA banning team orders beginning in.
File:2002 Austrian GP.jpg|thumb|right|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.|266x266px
Barrichello finished the 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 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 nineteen Brazilian Grands Prix in which he competed.
In the season, Ferrari lacked the pace of previous years because of the changing of tyre rules. Ferrari used Bridgestone tyres, which were less effective than those of their competitors Michelin. Barrichello's best results this season were two second places in Melbourne and then at the at Indianapolis, when all the Michelin-running cars retired after the formation lap, leaving only six cars in the race. 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 Räikkönen 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 Massa for the 2006 season.