Rubens Barrichello

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Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (born 23 May 1972 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian racing driver mostly known for his Formula One career which spanned from 1992 to 2012, during which he raced for eleven different teams, earning a reputation as a journeyman driver. He is currently driving for various Mercedes-powered teams in various GT series and is Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador.

Formula One

1993: Lotus

After an impressive junior career including five karting titles in Brazil before going to Europe as well as victories in the Formula Vauxhall Lotus championship in 1990 and the British Formula 3 championship in 1991, both Jordan and Lotus were fighting over Barrichello's services. After a long decision process, he joined Lotus for his debut season in the sport.

Despite the various mechanical failures that Lotus suffered, Barrichello managed to shine bright in his first year in the sport when he could finish races, frequently finishing in the points and managing a surprise podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix in a stellar drive.

1994-1999: Benetton Arrows

Barrichello's performances in the middle-of-the-pack Lotus was enough to convince Benetton Arrows boss Flavio Briatore to sign the young Brazilian to become Michael Schumacher's teammate for the 1994 season.

Barrichello missed out on a drive for the beginning of the 1998 season - but a lifeline came in the form of a drive with the Benetton Arrows team when regular driver Alexander Wurz was dropped for poor performances. Barrichello returned to the grid at the Austrian Grand Prix and became a regular points scorer - managing a best result of a second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix on his way to eleventh in the series.

Barrichello kept the seat for 1999 and was joined by Spanish debutant Pedro de la Rosa. The pair managed a 1-2 against form in the Monaco Grand Prix, with Barrichello finishing in second behind De la Rosa.

2000: McLaren testing

A change of management at Benetton Arrows saw Barrichello out of a drive once again - with the Brazilian seeking refuge at McLaren-Mercedes for a year and becoming their reserve driver behind Mika Häkkinen and Jack Christopherson.

2001: Prost

Barrichello's newly-formed ties with Mercedes-Benz created at McLaren saw him join the Prost Grand Prix team for 2001 alongside Stéphane Sarrazin. Barrichello managed a best result of fifth place in Monaco.

2002-2003: Minardi

In early 2002 Minardi announced they were going to be switching to Mercedes power units for 2003. In preparation for the following year, Barrichello was sent to the Italian team to ease the changeover in the off season. Barrichello only managed a single points finish in the Asiatech machine - a fifth place at home in Brazil.

2003 was not much better for the Brazilian and he finished the year in dead last with no points.

2004: Jordan

Barrichello's Mercedes links then sent him to Jordan for a year - where he was only able to score once in the shortened 10 race season with sixth place in Canada.

2005-2006: McLaren

McLaren rewarded Barrichello's patience in 2005 when they handed him a three-year contract partnering Nick Heidfeld. 2005 was somewhat of a breakthrough season for the Brazilian - where he took more race wins than any other driver with five. Despite this purple patch of form, Barrichello narrowly missed out on the World Championship because of the competitiveness of multiple teams that year - with the Brazilian finishing the season in fourth place overall.

Barrichello's competitiveness continued into 2006 - taking another win but the dominance of Ferrari's James James Davies meant the best Barrichello could achieve was fifth place overall.

2007: Williams

McLaren hired two-time world champion James James Davies and Felipe Massa, causing a situation where the team had four drivers under racing contract. Barrichello agreed to let McLaren loan his contract to Williams, who were looking to replace the departing Jenson Button. He joined Rhys Davies at the British team, who had just signed a Honda engine deal after Cosworth left the sport at the end of 2006. Barrichello would have a poor start to the season, retiring from 4 of the first 5 races, all from crashes. His season would somewhat improve from there onwards, taking 5 points finishes, although teammate Davies generally outperformed him, and the Brazilian would continue to get involved in accidents. He would then have a dispute with Patrick Head, and left the team before his home race despite scoring at the previous Uruguayan Grand Prix, being replaced by reserve driver Jean-Maxime Bachot.

2008-2009: Prodrive

Barrichello continued his F1 career by signing a two-year contract with Mclaren junior squad Prodrive, to help Canadian rookie Bruno Spengler find his footing in the sport. Barrichello managed two points scores in his first season with the team but found himself replaced by Darren Older Jr. after the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix despite having scored on two occasions that year as well. Prodrive departed from the sport later that season.

2010: Williams

Barrichello chose to settle his differences with the Williams team and signed with them again for 2010, again partnering his 2007 teammate Rhys Davies. Barrichello would have a poor opening race, finishing only 21st before improving to 9th place and scoring 2 points at the second Bahrain Grand Prix. Barrichello would then seriously tarnish his reputation at the following United States Grand Prix, for causing the crash that seriously injured and ended the career of young, promising Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi. Barrichello would be disqualified from the results of that race and excluded from the next three for his part in the accident. He returned to the cockpit for the Australian Grand Prix, but the paddock's and his team's attitudes towards him had become very frosty, which combined with Davies vastly outperforming him, led to Barrichello being dropped from the team after the Monaco Grand Prix and being replaced by Nick Heidfeld for the rest of the season. He would be left in 29th in the championship, with just 6 points.

2011-2012: Super Aguri/Brabham

Formula One Results

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 WDC Pts
1993 Team Lotus Lotus 107B Ford HBA7 3.5 V8 RSA
Ret
BRA
11
PAC
Ret
SMR
5
ESP
Ret
MON
Ret
CAN
3
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
5
HUN
12
BEL
Ret
ITA
5
POR
Ret
JPN
Ret
AUS
Ret
13th 10
1994 Mild Seven Benetton Arrows Arrows A17 Ford EC Zetec-R 3.5 V8 BRA
3
PAC
2
SMR
Ret
MON
Ret
ESP
Ret
CAN
1
FRA
1
GBR
1
GER
Ret
HUN
1
BEL
8
ITA
3
POR
1
EUR
3
JPN
Ret
AUS
Ret
3rd 68
1998 Mild Seven Benetton Arrows Arrows A21 Playlife GC37-01 3.0 V10 AUS BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR AUT
Ret
GER
7
HUN
2
BEL
5
ITA
5
JPN
6
POR
9
11th 11
1999 Mild Seven Benetton Arrows Arrows A22 Playlife FB01 3.0 V10 AUS
5
BRA
5
SMR
Ret
ESP
9
MON
2
CAN
9
FRA
4
GBR
Ret
AUT
Ret
GER
Ret
HUN
Ret
BEL
7
ITA
4
JPN
9
MAL
7
POR
Ret
8th 16
2001 Prost Grand Prix Prost AP04 Mercedes FO110K 3.0 V10 AUS
10
MAL
Ret
BRA
Ret
SMR
7
ESP
8
AUT
11
MON
5
CAN
9
EUR
13
FRA
Ret
GBR
7
GER
Ret
HUN
9
BEL
Ret
ITA
6
USA
8
JPN
11
15th 3
2002 European Minardi Asiatech Minardi PS02 Asiatech AT02 3.0 V10 AUS
15
MAL
8
SMR
Ret
ESP
Ret
AUT
Ret
MON
15
CAN
Ret
EUR
11
FRA
Ret
GBR
14
GER
Ret
HUN
Ret
BEL
13
ITA
10
BRA
5
USA
Ret
JPN
14
16th 2
2003 Minardi F1 Team Minardi PS03 Mercedes FO110M 3.0 V10 AUS
Ret
MAL
Ret
SMR
Ret
ESP
10
AUT
15
MON
11
CAN
Ret
GBR
Ret
EUR
10
GER
13
HUN
11
ITA
Ret
BEL
12
BRA
16
USA
Ret
JPN
11
24th 0
2004 Jordan Grand Prix Jordan EJ14 Mercedes FO110Q 3.0 V10 AUS
13
MAL
11
BHR
11
MON
15
CAN
6
USA
12
CHN
Ret
BRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
KOR
C
JPN
10
17th 3
2005 Team McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-20 Mercedes FO110R 3.0 V10 AUS
6
MAL
7
BHR
Ret
SMR
1
ESP
11†
MON
Ret
EUR
3
CAN
1
USA
DNS
FRA
5
GBR
Ret
GER
1
HUN
1
TUR
4
ITA
Ret
BEL
Ret
BRA
4
URU
1
JPN
5
CHN
2
4th 87
2006 Team McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-21 Mercedes FO 108S 2.4 V8 BHR
6
MAL
5
AUS
6
BEL
Ret
EUR
10
SMR
3
MON
2
ESP
6
GBR
Ret
CAN
5
USA
4
FRA
Ret
GER
7
HUN
Ret
TUR
8
ITA
14
BRA
3
URU
1
JPN
4
CHN
8
5th 61
2007 AT&T Williams Williams FW29 Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 BHR
Ret
MAL
Ret
AUS
Ret
JPN
16
SMR
Ret
GER
9
ESP
12
MON
8
CAN
Ret
USA
7
GBR
9
EUR
12
FRA
8
HUN
Ret
TUR
Ret
ITA
12
BEL
8
CHN
12
URU
8
BRA 16th 6
2008 Mobil 1 Prodrive F1 Team Prodrive MP4-27 Mercedes FO 108V 2.4 V8 BHR
Ret
MAL
Ret
AUS
9
JPN
Ret
TUR
Ret
EUR
16
MON
Ret
CAN
Ret
USA
Ret
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
HUN
Ret
ESP
7
BEL
6
ITA
10
SIN
Ret
CHN
13
URU
Ret
BRA
Ret
18th 5
2009 Mobil 1 Prodrive F1 Team Prodrive ProF1-09 Mercedes FO 108V 2.4 V8 BHR
13
AUS
Ret
MAL
13
USA
7
JPN
8
ESP
Ret
TUR EUR MON GBR IRE GER BEL ITA HUN SIN CHN BRA URU ABU 24th 3
2010 AT&T Williams Williams FW32 Honda RA005E 2.4 V8 BHR
1
21
BHR
2
9
USA
1
DSQ
USA
2
EX
JPN
1
EX
JPN
2
EX
AUS
1
9
AUS
2
Ret
TUR
1
15
TUR
2
9
EUR
1
14
EUR
2
12
MON
1
Ret
MON
2
Ret
GBR
1
GBR
2
IRE
1
IRE
2
GER
1
GER
2
ESP
1
ESP
2
ITA
1
ITA
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIN
1
SIN
2
KOR
1
KOR
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
URU
1
URU
2
ABU
1
ABU
2
29th 6
2011 Super Aguri F1 Team Super Aguri SA11 Honda RA005E 2.4 V8 BHR
1
14
BHR
2
14
USA
1
5
USA
2
Ret
JPN
1
Ret
JPN
2
15
KOR
1
15
KOR
2
Ret
TUR
1EX
TUR
2
20
ESP
1
19
ESP
2
Ret
MON
1
17
MON
2
15
GBR
1
12
GBR
2
Ret
IRE
1
13
IRE
2
Ret
EUR
1

20
EUR
2
15
GER
1
18
GER
2
Ret
HUN
1
Ret
HUN
2
14
ITA
1
16
ITA
2
13
URU
1
Ret
URU
2
16
BRA
1
10
BRA
2
Ret
SIN
1
Ret
SIN
2
Ret
IND
1
11
IND
2
15
ABU
1
19
ABU
2
10
28th 11
2012 EA Sports Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham BT102 Hyundai i002 2.4 V8 BHR
1
Ret
BHR
2
5
MAL
1
11
MAL
2
17
JPN
1
13
JPN
2
12
KOR
1
13
KOR
2
14
TUR
1
22
TUR
2
14
EUR
1
10
EUR
2
17
MON
1
4
MON
2
15
GBR
1
10
GBR
2
Ret
CAN
1
7
CAN
2
6
USA
1
4
USA
2
8
GER
1
8
GER
2
10
ESP
1
5
ESP
2
3
ITA
1
9
ITA
2
Ret
ABU
1
Ret
ABU
2
Ret
IND
1
8
IND
2
3
URU
1
13
URU
2
Ret
BRA
1
9
BRA
2
13
SIN
1
13
SIN
2
15
14th 107