The years at Ferrari
After finishing his experience at Ferrari from 2000 to 2005, where he contributed to the victory of four consecutive Constructors’ titles for the Maranello team, Rubens Barrichello‘s Formula 1 career continued at Honda, where he met Jenson Button as his new teammate after six years sharing the Prancing Horse garage with Michael Schumacher. The latter, just like Ferrari, was world champion from 2000 to 2004, with his experience in Red ending, unlike the Brazilian’s, in 2006 (the year of his first retirement from F1).
Read more Montoya: “If the car does not improve, Stroll will leave Aston Martin”
Honda and Brawn GP
Regarding Button, the Briton had Barrichello as a teammate from 2006 to 2009, first at Honda (until 2008) and then at Brawn GP, a team born from the ashes of Honda with which he became world champion for the first and only time in his career in 2009. More than an internal rivalry between the two drivers, Button considered himself lucky to have had Barrichello by his side, coming to understand the reasons that would have pushed Schumacher to continue together with the Brazilian at Ferrari.
The best qualities
Now an ambassador for Aston Martin, the 46-year-old explained them on the Beyond the Grid podcast: “I have often been asked this question: who is the driver who, in your opinion, was the best from an engineering point of view? Without a doubt, it was Rubens – he reiterated – he was really impressive in working with a team, in developing the car, in understanding what the car does on track and in conveying this information, but also in understanding what to do with the car, not just letting the engineer do his job. I understand why Michael wanted him as a teammate for so many years, and I was lucky to have him when we started racing together. I was really able to see his skills that I didn’t even know existed.”
Read more Towriss closes the door to Williams: “Perez will stay with us”
Button is also still convinced today that Barrichello’s arrival at Honda in 2006 was not solely due to the need to create a winning mentality, but it was useful to bring a very experienced driver into the team: “I wouldn’t talk so much about a winning mentality – he explained – I mean, we all want to win. We are all doing everything possible to win. It’s not about amateur teams competing with Ferrari. It’s about hundreds of people with a lot of experience in this sport. So I think the winning mentality has always been there. We just didn’t have the right package to do it. But I think having feedback from two experienced drivers was really important. And obviously, they will listen a lot to Rubens, because he comes from Ferrari and worked alongside Michael.”
Read more The background: it was D’Ambrosio who offered himself to Vasseur to move to Ferrari
