F1: Q&A with Rubens Barrichello

Formula 1

F1: Q&A with Rubens Barrichello

Peter Windsor talks with Rubens Barrichello’s about surpassing Riccardo Patrese’s record of 256 career races.

SPEED Staff | Posted April 26, 2008 Barcelona, Spain

Barrichello: ready to suit up for a milestone. (LAT photo)

In Sunday’s Acura Pre-Race show for the Spanish Grand Prix (7.30 a.m. ET), SPEED’s F1 team will be taking a look at Rubens Barrichello’s 15-year Formula 1 career, as he is about to surpass Riccardo Patrese’s record of 256 career races. Peter Windsor spoke to the man himself about his achievements, and why he thinks he’s lasted so long in such a ruthless environment.

Q: Rubens, that 257 number is looming, and God willing soon you will be the most experienced driver in the history of Formula 1. What does that mean to you?

RB: First of all I’m honored, because I’ve seen a bunch of good guys coming in, a bunch of guys who had all the talent that was needed to be a champion in Formula 1. I could name ten, or maybe more.

I think Formula 1 is a tough business. What makes you fast is your mind, it’s nothing to do with the outside (world). Formula 1 is somewhere where if you go wrong you’re a bad guy, if you do good you’re a good guy. So if you read everything and get into it, you just feel bad. So you gotta survive, for me I feel very proud.

It’s a while ago that I was at the go-kart track at Interlagos, I was 7 or 8, they helped me step up (to look over) the wall, and I could see private testing for Renault, (Jean-Pierre) Jabouille and (Rene) Arnoux. It’s not long ago! You say now “257”, and for me almost important as beating that is that I still have the fighting spirit and still determined to win.

It’s not like “OK, I’ve conquered that and it’s over”. I believe so much (still) in what I can do in terms of speed, and that’s why I feel so good.

Q: What about the highs and lows, the learning process, things that in a normal context you might think “what is this all about?”

RB: I think the lows are the best thing in your life, if you put it correctly, you learn from them all the time. Of course you can get out of the car and you have a low spirit and you’re disappointed with something, but there is always a positive out of everything in life.

That’s what keeps me here. That’s the determination, looking to the positive when there is none. With time I’ve always wanted to improve, you can see the young guys bringing the speed and so on, but can they do the setup that they’re planning to? We had a conversation on the radio today (with the engineers), and they said “Rubens you’re going fast, why do you want to make a change?”. Because I’ve always wanted to get better! It’s something that comes with the process. If you’re fastest, why don’t you want to be even faster? It comes with confidence and time, and it’s because of the lows.

Q: What the greatest feeling you’ve had in your career? Your first win at Hockenheim in 2000, perhaps?

RB: Well that is something else. I’ve won races back in go-karts in Brazil, maybe one or two, on slick tires in the wet.

That’s how I learned to drive well in the wet, by having slicks. For me it was more emotional than anything else. OK, Rubens won a race where still he had dry tires with a wet track, but it was almost more emotional with that correlation back to the past. So I think Hockenheim has got to be the best in terms of pure emotion.

Plus, I cried my heart out on that lap, and I’m proud to say it. But then when I got to the podium and I looked to the sky, for some reason I remember my father selling our Fiat 147 for me so I could race in the Brazilian go-kart championship. That came to my mind and I couldn’t stop crying.

Q: Formula 1 is probably the most materialistic world in which humans can try to survive. How important has your spirituality been to you throughout your career?

RB: It’s been everything. Like you say, it’s very materialistic, because you are as good as your last race.

Few people can see the good side when they say “okay he’s 17th, but he has full tanks and is trying for the race”. No, the newspapers will say “he’s behind his teamamate, and 17th is too bad for somebody who aims to do 300 races”. I think this is the bad side of Formula 1, and either you don’t even bother, or you have to be strong in your mind, spiritually. I think that comes from my family, it comes from a lot of things that you learn. Everything I get into the car I thank God for the chance I have.

It’s such a nice feeling to drive a Formula 1 car. Of course I liked the V10 better because it was more power, but these cars are going faster and faster, and I have to clap my hands for the engineers because we were always told “okay we’re gonna lose 2.5s”. Now we’re three seconds faster! Possibly we’re gonna go back to the slicks, which I’ve always thought was the way to go. I have so much pleasure in this material world!