Rubens Barrichello was born on May 23, 1972, and he was born in Sao Paulo. He is a highly successful Formula One racing driver, yes – but he is also Jewish-Brazilian! In 2009, he was confirmed as one of the drivers for the new Brawn GP team, after the management buy-out of the Honda racing team, with whom he had competed during the season of 2008. This good-looking player has created world records by scoring the fourth highest points total in the whole history of Formula One. From the years 2000 to 2005, he drove for Ferrari, as the teammate of Michael Schumacher, and he got amazing success – he even finished as the championship runner-up in the years 2002 and 2004. When Schumacher retired in 2006, it resulted in Barrichello becoming the most experienced driver on the grid, and when the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix came around, he was the most experienced driver in the history of Formula One.

Barrichello, One of the Greats

The late Ayrton Senna was one of Barrichello’s idols, and Barrichello looked up to him, and when he came to Formula One, Senna thought about making him his protégé. And as of now, till the 2009 Formula One season, this guy is the only driver who is left, to have competed against Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost – and that makes him the last still-competing driver who is connected to that time of Formula One.

How He Got Started

Rubens was named after his father and paternal grandfather, who shared the same name as him, and Barrichello also shares his father’s birthday! This made him known as Rubinho (Portuguese for “little Rubens”) and that became his nickname. Five carting titles were won by him in Brazil, before he went to Europe to race for the Formula Vauxhall Lotus series in the year 1990. He won his championship in the very first year, and he did that the next year too, in the British Formula 3 Championship, beating David Coulthard. When he was all of 19, he nearly joined Formula One, in the highest category of single seater racing. But he chose to compete in Formula 3000 in the year 1992, and came third in the championship. Then he joined the Jordan Formula One team, for the 1993 Formula season. After that, there has been no looking back for him, as he is one of the most successful Formula One drivers in history, has participated in various championships to massive success, and is a household name today.