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Written by:
Sean Kelly
05/10/2008 - 03:17 PM
Istanbul, Turkey
Rubens Barrichello (LAT photo) » More Photos
Having first appeared in Grand Prix racing in the era of Senna, Prost and Mansell, Rubens Barrichello will make some history of his own when he starts his 257th Grand Prix, surpassing Riccardo Patrese as the most experienced driver in Formula 1 history.
Rubens has said that he intends to celebrate that record this weekend in Istanbul, but to do so would be incorrect, statistically speaking. Turkey marks his 258th appearance at a Grand Prix, but it will be only the 255th race he’s started, according to arguably the two most esteemed guardians of the F1 record books – Peter Higham, author of the International Motor Racing Guide and longtime contributor to AUTOSPORT magazine, and Jacques Deschenaux, the Swiss journalist respected throughout the paddock for his annual Grand Prix Guide book.
In addition to his obvious failure to start the ill-fated 1994 San Marino Grand Prix after a practice crash, his Ferrari also failed the leave the dummy grid at both the 2002 Spanish and French Grands Prix – races that Barrichello counts toward his grand total, hence why he’s choosing to celebrate the record this weekend.
There is even a third different calculation, which fails to include the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix. In that race he was involved in the enormous lap 1 pile-up, and failed to take the restart as his spare car was allocated to his teammate, who was also involved. That definition therefore gives him only 253 starts.
By general consensus, a driver is adjudged to have make a race start if he is under starters’ orders on the grid for any start, hence why Mike Thackwell is still considered the youngest man ever to start an F1 race because of his one-off appearance at Montreal in 1980 -- even though he was eliminated in a first-corner shunt that brought out the red flags. Under these rules, Barrichello will not actually beat Patrese’s record until the Canadian Grand Prix.
Barrichello's Turkish GP will be his 258th GP appearance, but only his 257th start. Or Or 255th. Or 253rd. (LAT photo). » More Photos
This may seem like nitpicking, but it could become a serious issue for F1 nerds. With Super Aguri going out of business, let’s say hypothetically that Honda give Barrichello the elbow in favor of Takuma Sato for the Monaco Grand Prix, and the Brazilian elects to retire from F1. That would therefore mean that Barrichello
If it sounds far-fetched, it wouldn’t be the first time. At Brands Hatch in 1986, Jacques Laffite drew level with Graham Hill’s then-record 176 starts, only to be involved in a first lap crash that broke both his legs and ended his F1 career. For nearly three years, the two drivers were tied at the top of the list, until Patrese surpassed them both at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Regardless of the definition of a start, and whether or not Barrichello’s career encompasses more starts than Patrese, the Brazilian has enjoyed a 15-year stay in the top flight. Barrichello’s debut year also happened to be Patrese’s swansong in the sport, which therefore means the last season that didn’t feature either driver was back in 1976!
Having beat David Coulthard to win the 1991 British F3 title aged 19, Rubens made his first start at the 1993 South African Grand Prix for the Jordan-Hart team, at the time becoming the 8th-youngest driver in history to race in F1 (with the current crop getting ever younger, he’s since slipped down to 13th). Within three races he had come to prominence, with a stirring drive in the European Grand Prix at Donington.
Much is made of Ayrton Senna’s opening lap in that race, when he climbed from being sixth into turn one to being in the lead at the end of lap 1. This much-lauded achievement served to mask Rubens jumping from 12th to 4th on the same lap! Rubens eventually ran as high as second, driving for a team that had never had a podium finish and only scored 1 point in the previous season, and was running third – ahead of Alain Prost’s Williams-Renault -- when his car failed with just 6 laps remaining.
In the end he had to wait nearly a year for his first podium, in the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix at the TI Aida circuit. At the time, 22-year-old Barrichello was the third-youngest podium visitor ever, and later in the season at Spa he timed his qualifying run perfectly to take pole position on a drying track, becoming the youngest polesitter ever until Fernando Alonso beat him at the 2003 Malaysian GP.
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