Sam Michael, Technical Director of the AT&T Williams team, rates Rubens Barrichello as one of the best drivers he has worked with.

Williams got its strategy right amid the pressure of Malaysia's variable conditions wet qualifying session, with Nico Hulkenberg starting fifth and Barrichello seventh but, as Michael explained, the Brazilian's contribution was greater than commonly appreciated.

“If Rubens had got his sector times together he’d have been right up there in Q3 and I think we could have started P2 and P3," he said. "His second timed lap would have been good enough for that but Michael Schumacher had been off the track and Rubens came up behind him in Turn 12 and could do nothing about it. By the time he got onto his third lap the tyres had gone off. But his calls on tyres were all correct and that was very helpful because the guy’s just got so much experience. That helped Nico as well.

“I have to say, it was big input from Rubens. I was panicking going into Q2 with both cars on intermediates – there was only Petrov, Michael, Nico and Rubens on intermediates, the other 13 cars were all on wets, so I was pretty worried about it. Seeing Michael go out on intermediates made me feel a lot better. When Rubens first went out of the pitlane he said ‘damn, it’s very wet,’ then by the time he got to T7 he said ‘we’re definitely on the right tyre,’ so I was more comfortable then.

“It's still early season but Rubens is one of the best drivers I’ve ever worked with. He’s got such a big database and for every two camber change tests that Nico’s done, Rubens has done 100 of them. He just knows what’s important to make the car quick. It’s an amazing thing to not have that for a while and then to have it again.

“We took the decision to go with Rubens this year for those reasons. We thought he’d be good but he’s far exceeded our expectations. And that goes for everyone in the team – Frank, Patrick, Adam (Parr) and myself. The guy is on a really special level. The thing that’s surprised us most is that we think, how’s this guy not been a multiple world champion? He’s better than guys we know who are champions. There’s always a honeymoon stage but so far it’s a perfect partnership, Rubens and Nico.”