The 2008 Turkish Grand Prix will mark 257th F1 Grand Prix for Rubens Barrichello. This will make Barrichello the most experienced driver in F1 history, surpasing the 256 mark set by Riccardo Patrese. There has been questions about when exactly will Barrichello reach the record mark but I am not going into the details of the confusion. It has been done excellently elsewhere (see this post). The deal now is that 2008 Turkish GP is the one, so let’s leave it there.

Rubens Barrichello seems to have been around F1 forever. He entered the F1 circus in 1993. Here are some other names that were on grid in 1993 - Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Martin Brundle, Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell, Michael Andretti, Mika Häkkinen, Alex Zanardi, Eddie Irvine, Aguri Suzuki. Perhaps with an exemption of Michael Schumacher all these names remind me of a totally different F1 era… He scored points in his debut season. The first podium came in his second F1 season, 1994 Pacific Grand Prix.The same season he however had his most serious accident - the heavy crash during 1994 San Marino Grand Prix Friday practice (video inside the post) - and was lucky to walk away. Later that year he was on pole position for the first time. The points, podiums and pole position came quickly but for his first Formula 1 race win he had to wait longer than anyone before him - till 2000 German Grand Prix. Eight more race wins (all with Ferrari) followed. The last race he has won (as it stands) was the inaugural 2004 Chinese Grand Prix. The last time he made it to podium was the infamous 2005 United States Grand Prix where he only had Jordans and Minardis to beat …

Here is little summary Barrichello’s F1 career:

Milestones:

1993 South African Grand Prix - F1 debut in Jordan
1993 Japanese Grand Prix - first F1 points (5th place)
1994 Pacific Grand Prix - first F1 podium (3rd place)
1994 San Marino Grand Prix - serious accident in Friday free practice (video)

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F1Wolf

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