Difference between revisions of "Rubens Barrichello"

Revision as of 12:34, 12 September 2018

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 for three different decades, where he raced for multiple teams.

Formula One

1998-1999: Benetton Arrows

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 two-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: Red Bull

McLaren released Barrichello at the end of 2006 in favour of the returning James James Davies which meant Barrichello was out of a drive once again. However, midway through the season Barrichello was signed by Red Bull Racing to replace Robert Doornbos.