Rubens Barrichello on life after 300

Rubens Barrichello created a bit of history in 2010 when he made his 300th Grand Prix start in Belgium. In his 19th season - he turns 39 in May - he will continue to extend this extraordinary record.

Life was always going to be something of a come down after the previous season with Brawn, when he showed that he could still win races. Last year was very much a rollercoaster year for Williams, and in a very competitive field the team was only occasionally able to fight Renault and Mercedes in the battle for best of the rest behind the three title challengers.

But there were days when things fell into place and we saw a tigering performance from the Brazilian veteran, highlighted by a fourth in Valencia. In the end he made the points 10 times and finished 10th in the title race, which was a respectable outcome. Of course he wanted more, and so did Williams.

"When you sign for a team you never think it's not going to be a good year," says Rubens. "Because it could be, something brilliant could happen, and you just drive a better car and that's it.

"When we first drove it, we thought we would be a little bit more competitive than we actually were at the first race. Obviously we did suffer from different things that gave us less performance than testing. It was thought that different amount of fuels were being used in testing, and to be the king of testing is very easy, because with such an amount of fuel in the car, I could have been first every day.

Rubens Barrichello and Sam Michael, 2010 © LAT

"Saying that, I've been very proud of the work achieved by Williams. The best example was half way through the season they said Singapore would be the last race for an improvement, because we've got to concentrate on next year. Next year's car was actually progressing well, but we still brought something new after that. For a sort of a smallish team it's really good."

Rubens has spent his whole career observing Williams from the outside, and in the early nineties it was the team everyone wanted to drive for. So how did it feel to finally get the gig?

"It's always like a kid going to a new school, and it felt like that. But the guys made me feel very safe, the mechanics and engineers and so on. I've always felt quite good here. It is how it looks from the outside, they are a bunch of hard workers and so on.

"The only difference is that I had the image of Williams like an Alan Jones type of thing. You've got to be hard, you've got to be stressed. The relationship between them seemed that Alan was tough, and the team was tough, and then bang, bang, bang, bang. It looked like that form the outside! But inside, it's different. There are conversations and there are smiles and they are hard workers. It's a very nice environment, and I just feel safe."

For the first time since his Stewart GP days more than a decade earlier he was a clear team leader, the veteran alongside a rookie team-mate. Does he feel wanted at Williams?

"You know, I've always had this wanted feeling, I've always done well in teams, even when I worked for Ferrari. You do conquer your space and still feel wanted somehow. But it's not about cuddling and love, it's about getting the work done and getting everyone to hear what you're doing. It's a good marriage to be honest, with you. That's what I'm in love with!

Rubens Barrichello is team leader at Williams, just as he was at Stewart 14 years ago © LAT

"It's been one of the best times of my career. Like I've said before, all the teams that have employed me have used me well enough for their benefit, but not as well as Williams have used me. They hear me fully, and they actually act. They may have a sense that 'this is bullshit,' but let's try it anyway.' And then they try, and see some benefit.

"There's been some fantastic work. Sam [Michael] heard me and went off, and after Istanbul we were able to change the characteristic of the wind tunnel."

Indeed changes to the way the wind tunnel was used made a huge improvement, while Williams did a better job than some others of honing the F-Duct. The team's form thus took a turn for the better at the half way stage of the season.

"At the beginning we were just basically going through problems. In the Malaysian race we had a problem with the engine, it was down on power. In China it was raining, so I had less trouble.

"In Spain I had a great one because I came from 17th to ninth, and in Monte Carlo I was running sixth when I hit the wall [after running over a drain cover]. Turkey was the worst race ever, there was no performance, and we had to have a step backwards in some of the things that we'd done there. It never worked. There was nothing there, nothing, and it was a really sad weekend. Crashes happen and bad things happen, but Turkey was just not competitive.

"Canada was a great race, but unfortunately I touched Alguersuari, who put me in the wall, and I had to come in and I lost the brakes and so on. After that it was just on the way up. Valencia and Silverstone were great, fourth and fifth. Valencia is a great circuit for me, and even with the changes at Silverstone, I still love the circuit a lot.

"In Germany everyone was too competitive. It was the same as England, if we had started from the front and kept it, we would have finished in the front. But it was just too competitive, and if you start at the back you finish at the back.

Rubens Barrichello celebrates his 300th grand prix at Spa last year © LAT

"Belgium was my 300th, it should have been different, but I was on the hard tyre and I touched that water and just went straight. Italy I didn't have a great qualifying, but still finished OK, and sixth in Singapore was a good one, and Korea was good too."

Points are welcome, but podiums and wins are what it's all about. Can he see Williams making a significant step forward in 2011?

"I'm so positive that I can see the team growing, but I'm possibly not the right person to question. I can see only the good signs, and I'm changing the bad signs. I've been pinpointing things exactly with the car, and with that they can help everyone in the team to go forward. Next year's car is definitely in aggressive mode. But it's about whoever makes the tyres work better.

"It's a make or break type of thing. If you think that the Honda was not a very good car, we had a terrible 2008 season, and whenever they put the slicks on at the end of the year, the car improved itself. It was a car that if it was fighting for sixth position, it was already fighting for fifth. And then they made such an upgrade [as Brawn] it went to first. The Pirelli tyres could have a fundamental change on the tyres aerodynamically, so whatever happens it will help some teams and it won't help some others."

Williams is also confident that it has a good KERS system: "We do think we're strong, because we've been developing it. As a driver we're just concerned that we're going to have to press so many damn buttons that it's going to be tough!"

One other change for next year is the departure of Nico Hulkenberg, a man Barrichello has a lot of time for.

"He's a very good driver, I've been very impressed by his skills. He just got me at a moment when I'm driving better than at any other time in my career! He's going to have a great future because he's very competent behind the wheel. He's just a boy, so he'll learn from the mistakes of this year."

We still don't know what the German will be doing next year. Rubens meanwhile will be extending that remarkable start record, which currently stands at 306.

"I think it's a great achievement, but at the end of the day the 300th was just a race like any other one. It was actually a sad one, because of the shunt. I think that whenever I'm sat down with my grandchild I can look at how I achieved something special in F1. But right now I'm still after my championship!"

Will anyone else ever beat it his record? At one time Riccardo Patrese's mark of 256 seemed unassailable. But while there are a lot of drivers around who started their careers very young, keeping one's motivation going for 19 seasons is quite another thing.

"I don't think it's an easy one, I don't think people will do that easily. I think Michael [Schumacher] is the closest one! I don't think it's something that's going to be easy. It's achievable, obviously, but I don't think it's easy. In F1 you can see young drivers coming and going, because it's so competitive. They don't have a good race, and they're sacked. I'm there for such a long time. For someone to do that it's going to be someone like Hamilton or Alonso, winning and winning because they're good, and they keep on going and they like to be doing it."

The extended schedule doesn't make life any easier, especially for someone with two kids. At the end of the season Rubens was commuting from Brazil to Asia on a race-by-race by basis, and that is a seriously long haul even if you have the enviable option of going first class or taking your own jet.

Rubens Barrichello trying out the new Pirelli tyres at Abu Dhabi, 2010 © Sutton

"It's a harder task, that's for sure. I think at the end of the day the championship next year is going to be a lot better, because they put the right races together. This year it was completely wrong. If a driver is young and doesn't have anything to do back home, he stays in Asia. I wouldn't be happy staying there, I love to go back to Brazil."

Rubens still talks enthusiastically about his quest for the title. Is the fact that he hasn't won it the reason why he's still so motivated?

"Could be. I've never been there. But I've won other championships in the past, and I know the feeling. I know what I'm made of. I don't think I would win and just let it go.

"I'm driven so much by the passion, I think one day it won't spark any more, and that's it. I will know quite rapidly. My wife still stares at me and says, 'How long will you go on?' I don't know. I just love this.

"It hasn't happened only once or twice, but my wife has already told me quite a few times to call my engineer in the morning. 'Is his name Tony? You talked to him the whole night. Call him!' I still think too much..."