Career Stats Team Honda Nationality Brazilian Podiums 61 Points 519 Grand Prix entered 253 World Championships 0 Wins 9 Pole Positions 13 Date of Birth 23/05/1972 Place of Birth Sao Paulo

Once the ‘boy wonder' of Formula 1, Rubens Barrichello is set to become the most experienced driver in the sport's history in early 2008.

The Brazilian already has 249 grand prix starts under his belt – just seven shy of Riccardo Patrese's all-time record.

But Barrichello is more interested in revitalising his waning career than entering the history books.

He planned to re-establish himself at Honda after six years in Michael Schumacher's shadow at Ferrari.

Instead he struggled to adapt to the 2006 Honda, then tumbled down the order in the team's abysmal 2007 car – failing to score a single point for the first time in his 15-year career.

Frustratingly for Barrichello, he has also struggled to match team-mate Jenson Button on many occasions.

The Brazilian has often had the upper hand in Honda's darker moments, but when the car comes right it is Button who has made the most of the opportunity.

Barrichello desperately needs a big 2008 season, for he deserves better than for his career to fizzle out in midfield mediocrity.

Career log

Barrichello was only 20 years old when Eddie Jordan snapped him up for the 1993 F1 season.

He stunned the paddock by getting the humble Jordan as high as second place early in the wet European Grand Prix – only his third F1 race.

His first podium and pole position came in 1994, but Barrichello's very promising sophomore season was tainted by the death of his mentor and idol Ayrton Senna.

Out-psyched by his 1994/5 team-mate Eddie Irvine, and increasingly frustrated by Jordan's slow progress, Barrichello switched to the new Stewart team for 1997.

He was revitalised under Jackie Stewart's tutelage, finishing second at Monaco in 1997, and then shrugging off a disappointing 1998 season by leading races and taking three podium finishes with Stewart's vastly-improved 1999 car.

That performance earned Barrichello the number two Ferrari seat – where he ironically replaced former nemesis Irvine, and generally got closer to team leader Schumacher's pace than the Ulsterman had done.

But although his six years at Ferrari brought Barrichello nine wins and 55 podium finishes, being Schumacher's sidekick was often a thankless task.

Barrichello famously – and deeply controversially – had to pull aside for Schumacher when within yards of winning the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.

More criticism followed when Schumacher made a ham-fisted attempt to return the favour at Indianapolis later that year.

There were happy times too, as Barrichello contributed greatly to Ferrari's run of titles between 2000 and 2004, and scored some memorable victories, especially his maiden win (from 18th on the grid) at Hockenheim in 2000, and his charge to glory in the 2003 British GP.

As Ferrari struggled in 2005, Barrichello decided he had had enough of deputy duties and jumped ship for Honda.

But that move has yet to pay off, and he has had to watch as his Ferrari replacement Felipe Massa supplanted him in the Brazilian crowd's affections.

The early years

Barrichello announced his arrival on the European motorsport scene in spectacular style by winning the 1990 Opel Lotus Euroseries and then coming from behind to beat David Coulthard to the following year's British Formula 3 title.

He then finished a promising third in his debut Formula 3000 season before making the leap straight into F1 for 1993.

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