Rubens Barrichello

Interesting facts

On the Friday of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend, Barrichello suffered a violent crash at the Variante Bassa, hitting the wall and flipping his car; knocked unconscious with his tongue blocking his airway, only Professor Sid Watkins' trackside intervention saved his life - the weekend's tragedy then deepened further with the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and his mentor, Ayrton Senna. Over six seasons at Ferrari (2000-2005) as Schumacher's teammate, he took 51 podiums and helped the team to five consecutive constructors' titles - yet never won a drivers' championship, despite finishing runner-up twice. His 2002 season became defined by team orders: at the Austrian Grand Prix he was forced to hand victory to Schumacher on the final straight, a move that got both drivers fined by the FIA and led directly to team orders being banned from 2003 onward. His first win came remarkably late, on his 163rd start, at the 2000 German Grand Prix - starting 18th, he leapfrogged the McLarens when they pitted for wet tyres while he stayed out. Across an 18-season career (1993-2011) he became F1's most experienced driver with 322 starts, and in 2010 he surpassed Senna's points total to become the highest-scoring Brazilian driver in F1 history. Rubens Barrichello made his Formula 1 debut in 1993 and raced until 2011, 19 seasons in total as a Brazilian driver. He scored a total of 658 championship points over his career. His best season was 2002, when he finished 2nd in the championship with 77 points.