Schumacher-Barrichello: a true friendship
Rubens Barrichello is one of the drivers with a very long career behind him in modern Formula 1. Brazilian from São Paulo, born in 1972, he arrived in the Circus in 1993 with Jordan, after making a name for himself in the lower formulas, and built a 19-season career, with 11 wins and 68 podiums.
But it is especially the Ferrari chapter, from 2000 to 2005, that has cemented him in the history of the Scuderia: five seasons alongside Michael Schumacher, nine wins in red and twice vice world champion, in the heart of Maranello’s golden era.
Among his successes in red is also the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, right at Monza. A bond with the Brianza circuit that Barrichello renewed on Saturday, September 5, returning to drive the F2002 on track, the car with which he won four races that season and which represents one of the symbols of Ferrari’s most dominant era.
More than twenty years later, Rubens returned to take those same corners. And with him in this interview, we retraced the years in red, the feelings of that Ferrari, and the memories of an unrepeatable era.
The bond with Michael Schumacher
What impression does it give you to see Michael Schumacher’s seven stars on the SF26 at Monza celebrating a story that also involves you?
“It’s a beautiful story. We really worked together in that era to develop the car. We would arrive at Mugello for tests and the engineers would tell us, for example, that they expected to be 1.8 seconds faster in that session for this and that technical reason. We went on track and lowered the time exactly by 1.8 seconds! There was really a great connection between aerodynamics, engine, drivers, chassis, tires. So it really pleases me to see the stars there.”
Read more Barrichello: “Zanardi taught me to fly at Monza in 1992”
Do you ever think back to Michael Schumacher and the professional and human relationship you had with him?
“It’s hard to think about because in the end he was a very important person for us, for all of us at Ferrari and also for me. Because when I told Mr. Todt that I wanted him to give me every chance to race, I wanted to know how good I really was compared to Schumacher. Because for me it was a stimulus to have a teammate like him beside me, he always pushed you to look for your limit a little further.”
But beyond the time on track, with Schumacher I also had some nice personal moments, like when we went together to Disneyland in Orlando, Florida. One might think that between us there was only a fight to be the number 1 driver but the truth is that we also had a personal friendship story. The first time I saw him in person was on the podium at Aida ’94. I remember he looked at me as if thinking “this young guy is fast” and I definitely believe that when I signed for Ferrari to race alongside him, Michael played an active role in bringing me to the team.”
“Sometimes Michael was asked for an opinion by the engineers and he would answer “Rubens decides“. If a champion of that level said something like that, for me it is the best proof of having been an active part of Ferrari’s winning era. It also happened that I would go eat at some friend’s place while we were traveling around the world and Michael would come alone to eat with us.”
