At 36 years-old Honda’s Rubens Barrichello could have been forgiven for thinking his podium days were over. But on Sunday at Silverstone that is exactly where he found himself after a stunning drive to third in the British Grand Prix.
Starting 16th on the grid, the Brazilian, who last took a podium at the 2005 United States Grand Prix, hadn’t held much hope of a strong result. But a clever strategy switch saw him take on extreme wet-weather tyres as the rain worsened at mid distance and whilst his competitors struggled on their standard wets, Barrichello took advantage. Had it not been for a refuelling rig problem at his second stop, he may even have taken second place.
"It's a great feeling to be back on the podium today after such an exciting race where the weather conditions really helped us to get the best out of the car,” said Barrichello. “The most important decision of the race for us was switching to the extreme wet tyre when the heavy rain started to fall at half distance.
“I had a real moment at Club, going off at high speed and almost hitting the wall, and that made me realise that we needed to make a quick decision. After fitting the extreme wets, I was able to overtake the cars in front easily which was a great feeling. Making such a crucial decision at a key time comes from experience and from the team having the confidence in me to make the call.”
Having already earned itself a reputation as a world-class motorcycle manufacturer by achieving outstanding results in the Isle of Man TT and other races, Honda was keen to develop passenger car technologies through competition and started preparing for the challenges of Formula One in the early 1960s. The exciting project started to take shape in 1963 and by the end of the year Honda had fitted its experimental 1.5-litre RA270E to a steel-tube space frame chassis of its own design. In February 1964 Honda determined to press ahead. A new RA271E was prepared for the fast-approaching season together with an all-new state-of-the-art monocoque chassis constructed from aluminium panels. The first Honda F1 car made its Grand Prix debut on the daunting 22-kilometre Nürburgring circuit in early August with Ronnie Bucknum at the helm.
Learning the lessons gleaned from its first three Grands Prix in 1964, Honda's engineers laboured hard through the off-season to overcome their lack of four-wheeled racing experience. To boost the team's chances of success, the experienced Richie Ginther was signed to partner Bucknum in a two car attack. The Californian's arrival started to produce results - Ginther scored Honda's first World Championship point at Belgium's legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in June and led both British and Dutch Grands Prix. The final race of the season and of the 1.5-litre regulations was staged in Mexico - it was a landmark event for Honda too. Ginther grabbed the lead at the start and kept the opposition at bay to record Honda's maiden F1 victory on only its 11th outing.
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