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.”
In the past I have expressed an opinion that Juan Pablo Montoya is the best "driver" in NASCAR. After his own admission, I may have to reconsider that opinion.
"In Nascar, there are more than 40 cars racing wheel to wheel for up to three hours. “It’s harder here,” Montoya said. “When you run fifteenth, sometimes you think it sucks. But look at the big picture: fifteenth here is like sixth or seventh in F1, because there are twice as many cars. The incredible thing is here I run fifteenth or twentieth on average and there are four or five weeks in the year where I have a chance of winning. In F1 if you run sixth or seventh, you run sixth or seventh the whole year."
This is part of why I hate Jr. fans, not Jr. mind you, he is a skilled driver and his integrity far surpasses that of his father making him more admirable in my book. But his fans. Jeez!
They never get tired of tooting their horns. They can't even read each other's blogs and comment on them and have a discussion. No, they all have to toot their own horns.
Jr! Jr! Jr.!
Bring me a barf bag already.
Hell, half of his fans can't even tell you what the COT is.
Even Jr. says he was lucky. His fans won't admit it, but it's true.
Does it take anything away from the win? Hell no.
Fuel mileage is a part of racing and even a bigger part of racing in IRL and F1. So the win is nothing to be ashamed of. Michigan is often a fuel mileage track. That's part of why it is one of my favorites, that and four wide on the front tri-oval. Awesome track!
Look, jon talked enough about it, so comment on his blog.
Hope, sweetie, your welcome here but bring something new when you post, please?
Tyler, your recap is good, so I'll give you a pass. And don't let anyone give you #### regarding cutting and pasting. It is part of the history of blogging that evolved from newsgroups. Stand tall.
Joker. Man, your a good blogger. But this one wasn't necessary.
Rise up Jr,. nation? Please.
Watching from above? Nice sentiment. But there is no theology that indicates that looking down from above is even possible. In fact theology suggests a great gulf that can not be crossed. Dale may be racing with the other lost greats. But he ain't looking down.
Frever? Sunoco fumes through stainless steel lines? Sea of green, hell the sea parted and red and yellow Michigan seat colors were dominating by race end as most peripheral Jr. fans had left the building. But they'll tell all their friends thay stayed till the end and saw him win.
Change the life of Jr.,? I bet he's laughing his #### off at all this stuff. He know he was lucky, that it just worked out for him, and he's taking it all in stride and that's fine. But changing his life? A bit over the top I say.
Sr. passed away several years ago. It's been over five years. When will the opining stop? I miss Tony Roper, but nobody seems to remember him. I miss my dad, but I don't go on and on about it.
Time moves on. Let it go.
Inverted, you get a pass, you added a lot to the discussion with a different angle in your blog. Well done.
Cody gets a pass too. I like to see other drivers get mentions.
Bobdot can have a pass too. His rambles are, well, his rambles.
But bobat? Take the message board posts to a message board.
And what did all of you miss. Well something only us Jamie fans will remember I guess. We damn near stole that one from you. And hell yeah, we would have taken it, luck and all.
On a special Father’s Day afternoon at Michigan International Speedway, Roush Fenway Racing driver Jamie McMurray came close to giving his father, Jim McMurray the ultimate Father’s Day present – a trip to Victory Lane. Late in the race, the No. 26 Crown Royal Cask No. 16 team felt they had enough fuel to run the distance and battle with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for the win but when the caution flew with just two laps remaining, the No. 26 team was forced to pit for fuel, and settle for a top-10 finish in this afternoon’s Lifelock 400.
The Honda Racing F1 Team picked up two more World Championship points when Rubens Barrichello finished seventh in a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix. Rubens survived an incident-filled race in Montreal to finish seventh. Barrichello drove a tenacious race from start-to-finish.
“I’m pleased with the two points today,” said Rubens, “particularly as we thought our chances of a points finish were slim when we started the weekend. It was a very tough race and I have not been feeling well since yesterday due to a cold, which made it an even tougher physical challenge. “Yesterday I didn’t know if I was going to be well enough to race, so all things considered we did a good job today and I'm pleased to keep up the points-scoring momentum from Monaco."
Coming away from Canada, Team Principal Ross Brawn said: “We always knew this was going to be a tough race for us but we made the best of the opportunities and came away with more points. That is the approach we need to maintain. We are heading to Barcelona next week ahead of the French Grand Prix (22 June) in Magny-Cours, where the higher downforce characteristics of this track and potentially high temperatures will suit our car better.”
Robert Kubica achieved his first Formula One victory on the Montreal circuit. Kubica didn’t put a foot wrong as he led home team mate Nick Heidfeld to record his, Poland’s and BMW Sauber’s maiden win.
Rubens Barrichello set fast time in Tuesday's testing besting the likes of Felippe Masa, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. However, Alonso was back on top on Wednesday and Barrichello was not in the top five. Still is it possible Honda might actually be competitive this weekend? It sure would be a welcoming sight.
Honda’s Rubens Barrichello led the way in Barcelona on Tuesday, as testing continued at the Circuit de Catalunya. Running Bridgestone’s experimental slick tyres, Barrichello was close to a second faster than Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella, also on slicks. The Brazilian covered 79 laps during the course of the day, as he focused on evaluating development parts for the RA108.
“I tested the new 2009 slick tyres here today (Tuesday) - which was the reason for my fastest lap - but we were also much quicker on the 2008 grooved rubber too,” he explained. “The best lap we did here in February was a 1min 22.3s and now we are at 1min 20.7s, so we're really moving forward.”
Renault’s Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets as this week’s multi-team test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya continued on Wednesday. Alonso’s best, a 1m 18.483s lap, was set on Bridgestone’s 2009 slick tyres and put the Spaniard almost a second ahead of former sparring partner Michael Schumacher, who returned to the cockpit for Ferrari.
“The day has been good and I was happy with the developments to the car,” Alonso said. “But we still need to keep improving because it seems that our competitors have also improved and so it is still difficult to say how we really compare with them. We have to wait until next week to get a full picture of where we stand. It was fun to try the slick tyres, which gave very good grip.”
Schumacher, meanwhile, took charge of Ferrari’s test programme for the day.
Barrichello was sixth on Wednesday.
Though Rubens did not mention it, his Honda is sporting a radical new front wing this weekend.
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