Brazilian Formula Ford 1600 was his first stop, and in 1989 he finished a very credible fourth in the championship. The series proved a valuable learning experience, and gave Rubens the push to move over to Europe.

Leaving his native Brazil behind, Rubens achieved an astonishing result in the 1990 Opel Lotus Euroseries, ending up as champion in his first season. Barrichello then stepped up to British Formula 3 for 1991, and repeated the exact same feat!

Two consecutive series wins in such competitive championships opened doors for Rubens, and a swift move to F3000 was made for 1992. Racing in the European series, against such names as David Coulthard, Olivier Panis and Allan McNish, Rubens ended the season in third place having secured four podium finishes.

A year later and Rubens had made it into Formula One, driving for the independent Jordan team, and with five different team mates. At the penultimate race of the season, Barrichello dragged his Hart powered car to a fifth placed points finish.

Continuing with Jordan in 1994, Rubens started strongly with a points finish in the opening round - and that happened to be at his home circuit of Sao Paulo, Brazil. A podium at the next race made life even better, giving Rubens a fine base on which he went on to build, ending up the year with 19 points, and winding up sixth in the championship.

The 1995 Jordan was plagued by reliability issues, but still Rubens managed 11 points, taking second place at Canada on the way, finishing just one point ahead of team mate Eddie Irvine, who was then to head off to Ferrari. The following season proved every bit as troublesome, but Rubens got the upper hand on new team mate Martin Brundle to finish on 14 points.

A switch to the fledgling Stewart team for 1997 represented a new challenge, and the first couple of years were less than fruitful. With endless reliability issues to contend with, there were no points available in 1997, except for a fortunate but still skilful podium finish at Monaco, finishing behind Michael Schumacher, but ahead of now-Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine. A couple of fifth place finishes were his only reward in 1998, as reliability problems continued to plague the Stewart team.

A turn around occurred in 1999, with the Milton Keynes based team presenting a fast and reasonably reliable car, and one that helped Rubens bag three podium finishes, including a drive from 15th on the grid to third on the podium at the European Grand Prix.

After three years at Stewart, the doors at Maranello opened, and Rubens moved over to Ferrari, replacing none other than Eddie Irvine. Partnering Michael Schumacher, Rubens took a podium in his first race, and then missed out on his first win at Silverstone when his car failed. Another five podiums led him to secure his first race win on Schumacher's home ground - the German Grand Prix. That race was Rubens 125th Formula One race, so there's proof you can start winning after so long! Rubens finished the year in fourth, with team mate Schumacher as champion - only the McLaren cars split them.

The Ferrari F2001 dominated in the hands of Schumacher, but Barrichello couldn't convert the inherent pace into race wins, the Brazilian recording a massive 10 podium finishes throughout the season. It was enough to go one better in the championship, however, with Rubens taking third.

A rough start to 2002 saw Rubens failing to finish until round four, and then it was a now expected podium. Four wins, another six podiums, three pole positions and five fastest laps would be enough to take a championship in many years, but Barrichello could only finish second as we all watched Schumacher storm to a fifth world title.

A less competitive F2003-GA from Ferrari made life a little harder in 2003, but still Barrichello managed two wins and six more podiums. Fourth overall, Rubens wanted to improve in 2004.

And improve he did. A stunning 14 podium finishes, with two of them wins, put Rubens on a total of 114 points. While the points system has changed many times, making comparisons futile, I'll still point out that in all but three seasons, Rubens would have been World Champion with 114 points. Sadly, the F2004 was one of the most dominant cars in history, and Schumacher went on to secure his seventh title, scoring 148 points!

A much needed improvement in form from Ferrari's competition saw both Ferrari drivers struggling, with Rubens ending up eighth, his lowest position since 1998.

With a drop in performance from his car, and six years at a team with an undisputed number one driver, Rubens took hold of an opportunity to join the new Honda Racing F1 Team, partnering Jenson Button. His first season, 2006, showed some promise, with Honda returning to the podium on multiple occassions, but never with the Brazilian, thanks mainly to having difficulty adapting to the traction control and braking systems in the Brackley car, apparantly not the equal to those at Ferrari.

Despite finishing 26 points behind Button, his performances were actually quite good, and he remained with the team for 2007. This was to be a disaterous year for the team with the customer Super Aguri team outscoring the Honda works team until late in the season. Rubens ended the season pointless, but again all but matched Jenson.

Rubens remains with the team in 2008, now under the leadership of his old Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn.

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