Rubens
Barrichello

Rubens Barrichello was born in São Paulo on 23 May 1972. He won five karting titles in Brazil before moving to Europe in 1990, where he took a junior championship in his first season. In 1991 he won the British Formula 3 Championship, and in 1992 he finished third in Formula 3000. He made his Formula One debut for Jordan at the 1993 South African Grand Prix.

He stayed with Jordan until 1996. In 1994 he took third place at Aida for his first podium and claimed his first pole position in Belgium, finishing sixth in the championship. The weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix was marked by a serious crash for him in practice, and by the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and of his mentor Ayrton Senna. In 1997 he moved to the newly formed Stewart team and finished second in Monaco. In 1999 he took pole position in France and scored three podiums.

He joined Ferrari in 2000 as team-mate to Michael Schumacher. That year he took his first Grand Prix win at Hockenheim, starting 18th and staying out on dry tyres. In 2002 he won four races and finished runner-up in the championship, in 2003 he won at Silverstone and Suzuka, and in 2004 he was runner-up again with wins at Monza and in China. At the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix he moved aside for Schumacher on the final straight under team orders, and the FIA banned such orders from 2003.

From 2006 to 2008 he drove for Honda, finishing third at a wet Silverstone in 2008. Ross Brawn then took over the team, and in 2009 Barrichello finished third in the championship for Brawn. He won at Valencia and Monza and took pole position in Brazil, while team-mate Jenson Button became champion. He drove for Williams in 2010 and 2011 and was elected chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association in 2010. His last race was the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix. In total he made 322 starts, with 11 wins, 68 podiums and 14 pole positions. He never won a world title, and second place was his best championship finish.

After Formula One he raced in IndyCar for KV Racing Technology in 2012, finishing 11th in the Indianapolis 500 and taking the Rookie of the Year award. He then competed in Brazilian Stock Car, winning the title in 2014 and 2022. In 2025 he won the overall standings of the NASCAR Brasil Series. His sons Eduardo and Fernando are racing drivers too.

Source: Wikipedia, “Rubens Barrichello”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.