The young Rubens Barrichello

Theunser · 24 Nov 2019, 15:48 (Ref:3942569)

Barrichello was kinda the rookie of the year in 1993.
He was considered to be a future multiple world champion. For 1994 he was in contention for the Mclaren seat, and after Senna's death he was offered to be the lead Williams driver. Also in 1996 he was in line for a top drive(Ferrari,Benetton).
Do you think if he got a top drive in the mid 90's, he would be a champion and his career could be much more different?

kipper · 24 Nov 2019, 15:54 (Ref:3942570)

I doubt it. Whilst being linked to a number of seats, I don't know how serious the negotiations were. However, I don't if he'd moved to Ferrari he would have achieved much better results that Irvine; Benetton post Schumacher was not a competitive place to be; and at McLaren, Hakkinen would have been the preferred driver. Therefore, he might have scored an extra win or two, but probably not a championship title.

S griffin · 24 Nov 2019, 17:04 (Ref:3942578)

There were days when no one could live him and there were times, particularly in 03 when he proved more than a match for Schumi. However consistency was his problem

coppice · 24 Nov 2019, 18:16 (Ref:3942595)

I never heard anyone forecast multiple world championships for Barrichello . Or, come to think of it , for virtually anyone else in those less hype drenched days.

He was one of a very long series of drivers who had excelled in British F3 and who had enough early success in F1 to get people talking . History judges him as a peerless driver on his day , but with not having his days as often as some . He also suffered , perhaps wrongly , from having a nice guy image , and not having the ruthlessness of drivers such as Senna , Mansell et al

E.B · 24 Nov 2019, 21:38 (Ref:3942614)

Quote:

Originally Posted by coppice

I never heard anyone forecast multiple world championships for Barrichello . Or, come to think of it , for virtually anyone else in those less hype drenched days.

Kimi Raikkonen was mentioned by Brundle at the 2001 Aus GP (on his F1 debut) as being a future WDC.
Also James HUnt I think it was mentioned the same for Senna early in his career.
And then in 2007 it was Hamilton.

**chunterer** · 24 Nov 2019, 23:40 (Ref:3942627)

Had Barrichello gone to Mclaren instead of Ferrari he may have got a clearer shot but I considered him to be at the same level as DC who on the whole just managed to keep Mika in range sometimes.

S griffin · 25 Nov 2019, 11:09 (Ref:3942713)

Definitely a driver on the Patrese/Berger/Coulthard/Bottas kind. Can beat their superstar team mate on occasion, just not all the time

steve_r · 26 Nov 2019, 19:38 (Ref:3943037)

He had a better chance than most F1 drivers ever get. He had the best car on the grid in 2009, and only needed to beat his teammate to become WDC. Didn't happen.

He also drove for Ferrari - but you cant really blame him for being dominated by his teammate at the time.

Good driver, but never deserved to be a WDC.

S griffin · 26 Nov 2019, 21:24 (Ref:3943069)

I agree. He failed to make his big chance pay against Jenson, and JB was a very good driver, if not quite on the Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel level

That said, Barrichello did not deserve that disgraceful treatment at Austria 2002

wnut · 1 Dec 2019, 02:35 (Ref:3943954)

Quote:

Originally Posted by S griffin

I agree. He failed to make his big chance pay against Jenson, and JB was a very good driver, if not quite on the Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel level

That said, Barrichello did not deserve that disgraceful treatment at Austria 2002

That little fiasco was totally Jean Todt's bright idea. Nobody else was at all happy with the idea including Schu.

S griffin · 1 Dec 2019, 11:04 (Ref:3944000)

To be fair it was Barrichello's decision to wait till the final moment to do it, but that was because he was being cheated of a win he had deserved

**chunterer** · 2 Dec 2019, 09:18 (Ref:3944188)

Quote:

Originally Posted by S griffin

To be fair it was Barrichello's decision to wait till the final moment to do it, but that was because he was being cheated of a win he had deserved

Yes i think we are well aware of the story 😎

S griffin · 2 Dec 2019, 11:46 (Ref:3944231)

Indeed. With Clive James’ passing the other day, I was remembering his F1 involvement and how that incident made him fall out of love with the sport

coppice · 7 Dec 2019, 07:32 (Ref:3945326)

There's an excellent Beyond The Grid podcast with Barrichello, Fascinating listen and I had not been aware he'd had a stroke recently , from which he sounds 100% recovered

hoffman66 · 7 Dec 2019, 13:16 (Ref:3945364)

He was in the middle of that line of hyped Brazlian talent first started by Emmo and carried Piquet, reached the peak with Senna and saw its demise with Burti, Bernoldi, Pizzonia et al.

Glad that freight train of average talent at the end stopped!