Rubens Barrichello once had the most starts in Formula 1 history before deciding to walk away from the sport in 2011.
The Brazilian driver is one of the better racers to have never claimed a drivers’ championship, despite being Michael Schumacher’s teammate through dominant years at Ferrari.
His last two years were spent with Williams in the midfield, battling to score points every weekend in an average machine.
His last-ever points finish came at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, after a tight battle with some of the upcoming talents.
Barrichello as the subject of the most dangerous F1 overtake ever attempted in 2010, and narrowly survived hitting the wall at nearly 200mph.
During his sophomore season, Barrichello also survived a horror shunt on the same weekend that Ayrton Senna would pass away. It was a devastating weekend for Formula 1.
Rubens Barrichello admits Jaime Alguersuari made him ‘nervous’ in Formula 1
Barrichello’s last season saw him score just four points, with two consecutive ninth-place finishes in Monaco and Canada.
During the race in Montreal, he faced the feisty young driver Jaime Alguersuari, who managed to catch him by surprise in battle.
“I learned a lot from you,” he said. “I didn’t tell you about it, but the only time you made me extremely nervous, do you remember Montreal?
“I was wondering if you accidentally closed the door on me, because of the area there, right? He didn’t just close it without warning, without prior notice.
“Hey, he threw me in the box there. I stopped with all kinds of injuries, but I ran, I asked every time I turned, Jaimie penalty? No, no, no penalty [was the response]. It’s not possible, it’s not possible,” Barrichello continued.
“And there I was the only one out of 126 races who jumped out of the car and went to talk to you directly. I wanted to kill you. No one knows that.”
What did Rubens Barrichello do after retiring from Formula 1 in 2011?
After retiring in 2011, Barrichello continued racing in other series. In 2012, he even competed in the famous Indianapolis 500.
He finished 11th before embarking on a career in the Stock Car Pro Series, where he raced right up until the end of 2024, with a best championship finish of 1st in 2014 and 2022.
He has also made the odd appearance in endurance events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona with little success to shout home about.
Nowadays, he remains fourth on the all-time starts list, which is pretty remarkable considering how many races per year there are now.
It just goes to show what a fierce competitor Barrichello was, and how much he loved his time in Formula 1.
