Rubens Barrichello: The oldest tricks in the book

It's perhaps not surprising that many folk have compared Lewis Hamilton's victory at Silverstone with Ayrton Senna's famous success at Donington back in 1993. Given that both men scored dominant wins in McLarens, and that the Leicestershire track was in the news over the British GP weekend, it was a logical connection to make.

Only one man took part in both races and thus could truly compare the two events, and he was standing alongside Lewis on the podium - just as he very nearly stood alongside Senna 15 years ago.

When he finally retires Rubens Barrichello is unlikely to figure very highly when people compile their lists of all-time greats, despite the impressive list of wins and podium finishes that he amassed during his Ferrari years. After all for most of that period Ferrari was utterly dominant, and even on a bad day he could reasonably expect to finish second.

But the Brazilian has undoubtedly made his mark has in the rain, and more often than not he's made best of difficult circumstances. The first sign of that skill came at Donington, where he would have finished third had the Jordan not failed him.

Many more great days were to come; at Spa in '94 he stole a last minute pole on a slippery track, at Monaco in '97 he took an amazing second place for Stewart, and at Hockenheim in '01 he scored an emotional first win. There have been many other memorable performances as well, and his run to third at Silverstone was certainly one of them. So how did he do it?

In qualifying he had the small satisfaction of beating team-mate Jenson Button on the local hero's home track, but 16th wasn't much to write home about. He did remember to ring, however.

"I called my family today about nine o'clock and they said they were going to the beach," he said after the race at a less than sunny Silverstone.

"And we were here! I asked yesterday when I went to bed for weather like that, because it was our only chance to really conquer something ..."

Rubens Barrichello follows Timo Glock early in the race © XPB

His prayers were certainly answered, and the track was soaked come the start. Barrichello had some good fortune on the first lap, when Webber, Massa, Coulthard and Vettel all slid off the road. He picked his way through each time, also gaining places from Bourdais and Nakajima, to finish the first lap in 10th place.

So far so good, but in fact over the first third of the race there was little sign of what was to come, as Barrichello gradually fell away from Timo Glock ahead. On the 10th lap he had a moment and actually lost a place to Button. A couple of laps later he lost another spot to the recovering Webber. At this stage few would bet on him carrying home a piece of silverware.

Things started to go in his favour when rain returned for the first time, around lap 23. Running second behind Button, Barrichello made the first call on coming in for a change to fresh intermediates, so Button had to wait a lap.

Button thus lost a few seconds staying out, and when the Englishman came in, Barrichello had jumped him. With others struggling on old, well-worn inters for a while Barrichello was one of the quickest drivers on the track - quicker than anybody on one lap. Pit stops for Trulli, Alonso and Raikkonen then moved him up to sixth.

Then the really heavy rain came, and on lap 35 he made the decision to come in for extremes.

It was one of those deals where a team could spend an age discussing the merits of staying out, setting whole squads of data analysts onto the task of calculating how much time might be gained or lost. Many did just that, and paid the price or their prevarication. But Barrichello and Honda ignored the science, and just went for it.

He still had plenty of fuel on board, but when he arrived in the pit there was apparently a rig problem, and considerable confusion about whether it was worth putting more fuel in (he could easily have taken enough to get to the flag). Matters were complicated further by the fact that Button came in behind, and was also waiting. Total chaos reigned for a while.

"I had fuel to keep on going, and I had the tyres on," said Barrichello. "But the jack was in front of me so I couldn't move. Obviously there were plenty of conversations, that's why we still have to get better.

"The team, all of them are good, but there are too many conversations on the radio that make our lives a little more difficult. I was there, I was stuck, and I didn't know why."

In the end he was dispatched with enough fuel still in the car to run another 11 laps. Amid all the confusion, he'd lost around 17s.

Had he not done so, his progress would have been even more spectacular.

As it was he was now in seventh place, but all those ahead were still on inters of varying vintage - and all of them, even Hamilton, were struggling to stay on the road.

Barrichello moved up a spot when Kubica pitted, unlapped himself from Hamilton just before the leader came in, and then shot past Kovalainen, Alonso and Trulli like they were standing still. Incredibly, as of lap 41, he was in third place, and enjoying every minute.

Rubens Barrichello overtakes Fernando Alonso around the outside © XPB

"We chose the right moment to put the extreme tyres on, and we fought so great. I was overtaking everyone, including Lewis! The car was obviously faster than everybody in front. It was hard to see forward, it was hard to see in the mirrors. It was keeping the concentration. It was physically nothing, it was like a piece of cake. It was mentally very tough to keep everything going."

Also on extremes, both Williams drivers had actually been as fast if not faster for a few laps, but then for five glorious laps from laps 41 to 45 Barrichello was the fastest man on the track (for a while the only man who came close was the unheralded Bourdais).

During this period he passed Heidfeld for second, and trimmed the gap to Hamilton, which had been 68s before all the chaos started, to 40s. Initially, he didn't appreciate how much progress he'd made through the field.

"I only realised when the team told me," he said. "Our garage is so far towards Copse Corner that we can keep an eye on the pit board, but not very often especially with the wet weather.

"Jock Clear was on the radio saying, 'You can slow down,' I said, 'I cannot slow down, I'm already slow.' He said, 'No calm down, just take it easy,' and it was so much fun to hear that, because they were much more nervous than anything else. It was, 'Just bring it home.'"

When the fuel load ran out he came in again, taking the opportunity to switch back to intermediates. With a full tank he could have run to the end on the extremes, as others did, but the extra stop wasn't as costly as it might have been, since he'd gained so much time.

However, he had to give up any hopes he had of beating Heidfeld for second. He emerged 8s behind the BMW man - had he not lost that 17s in that frustrating pit stop, the last 15 laps would have been even more interesting.

"The problem was that if the track was fairly wet still it was one thing, but the track was getting drier," he said. "In the dry I think the BMW is still a better car than ours, and then it would have been impossible to get Nick. So at one point I had to give up on my wishes."

This wasn't just about a fortunate tyre choice. Button made the same one, pushed too hard too soon, and spun. Rosberg also had a golden chance of a good result, but blew it by smashing his nose on Glock's Toyota. Barrichello still had to bring the thing safely home.

The result was certainly good for Barrichello personally, and also for a team that has endured a tough couple of seasons since Button's Hungarian victory. But Barrichello is savvy enough to realise that there's still much to do.

"It was fantastic, the decisions today, everything worked very, very well, with the tyres and so on.

Rubens Barrichello celebrates with engineer Jock Clear and the Honda team © XPB

"It's a boost, it's a moment for telling all the engineers and mechanics, and all the people from the factory that put a lot of effort into this, that this is a big day.

"But we're not there yet, we have to work together, and I'm really sure with Ross [Brawn] in command we will get there. It's always great. But like I said it brings the motivation now, the next day, but then it's down to earth again and working hard. That's what Ross and the whole team are doing, and that's what we need to keep on our minds."

This was the first time since he left Ferrari that he has made the podium, and there's a chance of course that it might also turn out to be the last, since he does not have a confirmed seat for '09. He certainly made the most of it.

"That is the biggest thing that I was missing since 2005, since the last podium. It is such a great feeling to be up there, it is a moment that the TV is on, and honestly what I can say with a great emotion is that my kid Eduardo, he's six, and yesterday he said when I spoke to him he said, 'You know Dad, I'm going to pray for it to be wet, so you can get on the podium.'

"How magic that is! It was magic on the podium knowing that he was watching me on the TV, and all this champagne ... So I have this inside of me. And honestly, the day that I feel I am slower than I was in my first race is the day that I'll stop."