Rubens Barrichello

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Rubens Barrichello

Wednesday 14th February 2007

Following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994, Rubens Barrichello inherited the hopes of Brazil's F1 fans.

This massive responsibility, together with his admirable yet unrewarding loyalty, has meant that Rubens has largely failed to live up to the promise shown earlier in his career.

Barrichello began his F1 life with Jordan in 1993 and went on to be their longest-serving driver.

He recorded a solid first season, though as a result of unreliable machinery and cruel luck, he finished in the points just once - at Suzuka.

The following year he began in style with his first podium finish at Aida in the Pacific GP and a fourth in his home GP at Interlagos.

Rubens' horrific crash during Friday practice for the San Marino GP in 1994 was to prove a portent of what was to come that fateful weekend when Senna and Roland Ratzenberger lost their lives.

However Rubens fought back, taking pole at Spa and finishing sixth overall in the race.

The next two seasons at Jordan proved fruitless, and in 1997 he moved to pastures new, signing for the new Stewart team.

If things were frustrating at Jordan, his first season at Stewart must have been unbearable with the car beset by problems. In 17 races, his Stewart suffered mechanical failings on 13 occasions although at Monaco he did manage a second place.

1998 and 1999 saw much of the same, with the Stewart constantly letting him down at the final hurdle. It is typical of Rubens' luck, that when the team finally came good and won a race, it was team-mate Johnny Herbert who took the victory.

In late 1999 Rubens revealed that he was to join Ferrari for 2000 where he would line up alongside Michael Schumacher.

And although he did claim his maiden victory that year at the German GP after a strong drive from 18th on the grid, there were many stages during the season when he failed to impress.

Though he had joined the team saying he had equal status to Schumacher, it soon became clear that Rubens' role was as a support, no matter how it was dressed up.

In 2001 the Brazilian failed to make the top step of the podium and was made to give up second place at the Austrian Grand Prix to Schumacher by team boss Jean Todt.

Todt gave him the assurance that if he had been leading he wouldn't have been made to move over. Rubinho finished third in the Championship with 56 points, including seconds at the Hungaroring, Hockenheim, Monza, Monte Carlo and Sepang.

The 2002 season started with Rubens claiming pole at Melbourne with the F2001.

A spectacular first-corner accident with Ralf Schumacher took out a large number of cars, and Rubens was to suffer reliability problems in the subsequent races.

The points difference between himself and Schumacher was so great by the time they got to Austria for round six that, even though Rubens had control of the race, Todt still asked him to gift the win to Michael, resulting in arguably the most controversial F1 incident since the championship finale at Jerez in 1997.

Afterwards an embarrassed Schumacher pushed Rubens onto the top step of the podium, incurring the further wrath of the FIA.

Having just signed a new two-year contract Rubens was incredibly relaxed (publicly at least) about the events and went on to score race wins at Monza, Budapest and the Nurburgring.

He also won at Indianapolis after Schumacher's attempt at a Ferrari dead heat spectacularly backfired, leaving Rubens the bemused winner. He finished the year in second place with 77 points.

Rubens' situation was very much the same in 2003 - but only worse.

With the new rules implemented by the FIA to level the playing field, second places were difficult to come by and wins even more so.

Rubens achieved just two victories that season, as he had to tussle with both McLaren and Williams' drivers for the slim pickings available. He finished the year fourth, 66 points behind Schumacher.

In 2004 though the gap between Ferrari and their rivals was again stretched to the limit. And unfortunately for Rubens, so too was the gap between himself and Schumacher.

While his team-mate achieved 13 wins, he managed just two.

They were, though, the first back-to-back victories of his F1 career and went a long way towards helping him see off the challenge from Jenson Button for the runner-up position in the Drivers' Championship.

Despite being linked to a move to BAR, Rubens' achievements and willingness to play by Ferrari's rules earned him a two-year extension with the Maranello team.

However, at the end of a disappointing 2005 season, which yielded no wins and only four podiums, Rubens called it quits on his Ferrari career, opting instead to move to Honda Racing (formerly known as BAR) in 2006.

Finally out from Schumacher's shadow, Rubens had the chance to really demonstrate his ability with Honda. However, instead he just slipped under Jenson Button's shadow.

While the Brit claimed two podium finishes in 2006, including Honda's first race win, Barrichello struggled for much of the season and was more often than not also outdone by his team-mate in qualifying.

The Brazilian scored 30 points and finished the season seventh in the Drivers' Championship, one place behind his team-mate, although 26 points adrift.

However, instead of the situation improving in 2007, it goes worse - a lot worse.

Barrichello did not score any points during the season, mostly due to the Honda RA107's lack of pace. It was the first season, since his debut in 1993, that Barrichello did not score any World Championship points.

A ninth place in British Grand Prix was his best result in the whole season and on only one occasion did the Brazilian qualify inside the top ten.

But despite a hugely disappointing season, Honda have confirmed that Rubens will race for them in 2008, where hopefully the signing of former Ferrari tech guru Ross Brawn as their new team boss will see Honda and their Brazilian driver make their way to the front of the pack.