Nicknamed "Rubinho",[a] Barrichello competed in Formula One from 1993 to 2011, and twice finished runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in 2002 and 2004 with Ferrari; he won 11 Grands Prix across 19 seasons.

Born and raised in São Paulo, Barrichello started his career in karting, winning several national titles before progressing to junior formulae in 1989.

After a difficult 1998 campaign, Stewart improved greatly in 1999, with Barrichello taking several podiums amongst his maiden pole position at the French Grand Prix.

Barrichello twice finished runner-up to Schumacher in 2002 and 2004, contributing to five consecutive World Constructors' Championships for Ferrari with 51 podium appearances in 85 Grands Prix.

After two years with Williams, Barrichello retired from Formula One, having achieved 11 wins, 14 pole positions, 17 fastest laps and 68 podiums, the latter of which remains the record for a non-World Champion.

He ran as high as second and was running third, having passed the Williams of Damon Hill and Alain Prost, before encountering a fuel pressure problem.

However, at the San Marino Grand Prix, he suffered a violent crash during Friday practice, hitting the wall at the Variante Bassa and flipping the car.

Barrichello qualified third at his home race in Brazil, outpacing Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, and led some laps, until his engine blew near 'Subida dos Boxes'.

He also took pole position in the wet qualifying session in France, and three podium finishes, at the San Marino, French, and European Grands Prix.

[12] Barrichello had a consistent debut season for Ferrari, finishing most races on the podium, but was outscored by Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard.

The year was marked by controversy, however, when Ferrari team orders required Barrichello to allow the trailing Schumacher to pass him on the final straight of the Austrian Grand Prix to take victory.

At Barcelona during the final pre-season test, both Barrichello and Button surprised the paddock with extremely competitive lap times, outperforming others by as much as two seconds, and foreshadowing the performance the team would show in the early races.

Despite this, Barrichello ultimately finished the race in second place after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided with just 2 laps remaining.

[34] At Shanghai, he outpaced Button in qualifying, but struggled with his car's brakes when one of them stopped working in the first stint and finished in fourth, recording the race's fastest lap.

[36] He qualified third on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix,[37] but overtook Button and second place man Vettel on the first straight, to lead the race in the first corner.

A fuel rig problem during his second stop meant that he finished the race in sixth, a place behind teammate Jenson Button.

[50] After passing Kovalainen at the start, Barrichello managed not to lose too much time, as he had the advantage of just one stop against Hamilton, Räikkönen and Sutil's two-stop strategy.

[54] In Japan, he originally qualified 5th, but was given a five place grid penalty for failing to slow down during a yellow flag situation near the end of Q2 when Sébastien Buemi crashed.

[55] He was on course to finish fifth with Button behind, which would have been enough for Brawn GP to clinch the Constructors' Championship, but a safety car period in the closing stages of the race for Jaime Alguersuari's crash meant that Nico Rosberg and Heidfeld were able to stay out ahead and save fuel, dropping Barrichello to seventh.

Williams was the second team in terms of kilometres covered and showed some reliability, but were off pace from front-runners Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren.

In Spain he benefited from Lewis Hamilton's late crash to score two points, finishing in 9th, despite starting 18th on the grid and equalling Senna's record.

In Singapore, the FW32 sported a new front wing,[63] and Barrichello put this to good use to set the sixth fastest time in qualifying, although Williams technical director Sam Michael reckoned the car was fast enough to be a couple of positions higher.

After a delayed pitstop, his traditional bad luck on home soil returned when he suffered a puncture after briefly colliding with Jaime Alguersuari, costing him any chance of scoring points.

However, when the safety car was deployed following Michael Schumacher's and Vitantonio Liuzzi's crash, many drivers like Robert Kubica, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg took advantage of this by pitting early.

Former Caterham F1 team principal Manfredi Ravetto said in an interview that a contract was signed with Barrichello to replace Kamui Kobayashi for the final three races of the season, providing the car would be competitive.

[67] On 25 January 2012, American journalist Robin Miller reported that Barrichello was to test an IndyCar for KV Racing Technology with friend Tony Kanaan.

[69] On 1 March 2012 Barrichello joined KV Racing Technology for the 2012 season, to drive the team's number eight entry alongside Kanaan and E. J. Viso,[70][71][72] sponsored by Brazilian construction company, Embrase.

Continuing to drive a Chevrolet for Full Time Sports in 2014, Barrichello was crowned the 2014 champion, winning two races and securing a further 4 podium finishes.

At the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, Barrichello drove with a helmet in tribute to Ingo Hoffmann, former F1 driver and multiple Stock Car Brasil champion who was retiring that year.

[79] Barrichello formerly held the fastest time by a Formula One driver around the Top Gear test track during the show's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment.