Barrichello's title dreams fade at Interlagos

Jenson Button - 2009 Formula One World Champion. It is the story that has dominated the sporting headlines following the Brazilian Grand Prix. But while much has been said of Button's achievements, his Brawn GP team-mate and season-long rival, Rubens Barrichello, has faded from the limelight, possibly for good.

After Button's flight back to Europe was delayed on Sunday evening, the Brazilian offered him the use of his private jet to allow him to stay in Sao Paulo to celebrate. The magnanimity of this gesture is remarkable, especially considering that this season may well prove to have been his final shot at the title. Though he remains quick - and victories at Valencia and Monza can attest to that - he is 37 years old, and, it is fair to say, probably in the latter stages of his career. Time is running out. It is widely rumoured that he will move to Williams for 2010, in which case it seems unlikely that he will enjoy the same race-winning machinery as he has at Brawn. 

If these rumours are well-founded, his exit from Brawn will be a bitter pill to swallow. After all, if he finishes on the podium in Abu Dhabi, he will complete his second-highest scoring season of his 17-year F1 career. It is a rapid turnaround from 2007, when he finished twentieth in the standings, unable to claim a single point in a dismal season with Honda. Having only just tasted victory again for the first time in five years, it will be hard to readjust to a middle-running team.

Could Barrichello have won the 2009 world championship? He has, it is true, suffered more than his fair share of reliability issues in comparison to his team-mate. In both Malaysia and Singapore he was forced to change his gearbox and suffered five-place grid penalties, ruining strong qualifying efforts. In Singapore especially he could have taken several points out of his team-mate's championship lead, given that Button was only able to qualify in 12th - one of his worst Saturday performances of the year.

However, the Brazilian's recurring trouble with the anti-stall mechanism on the grid was an Achilles heel, costing him places. This was most apparent at Spa, where he qualified in fourth only to drop to the back of the field on the opening lap. From there he fought his way back to finish seventh, but it could have been far better than that, especially after rival Button was eliminated in an early tangle with Romain Grosjean.

His ability to deliver when the chips were down may also be questioned. In Spain he was unable to make his three-stop strategy work and lost his early lead to Button, who went on to win. And despite starting from pole position this weekend at Interlagos, he lacked the raw pace to stay ahead of Mark Webber and Robert Kubica through the pit stop phase, and found himself dropping down through the field. As he admitted after the race, “I know how to win and lose, and this is a time of frustration."

Indeed F1 historians may come to question how much of his potential was realised on the track. He is fourth-highest on the all-time list of career points - not to mention the first non-champion on that list. In addition, he has finished in the points places in 127 races, more often than all but Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost. In his career to date he has recorded 11 race victories - as many as 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve, and one more than Gerhard Berger.

However, he suffered the double misfortune not only of racing through the Schumacher era but also of being his team-mate for six years at Ferrari, at a time when the German was at the peak of his powers. Whereas the rest of the grid could at least compete on fair terms, Barrichello was often driving with one hand tied behind his back - most especially at both the 2001 and 2002 Austrian Grands Prix, when he was asked to let Schumacher pass in the interests of the championship. It is difficult to avoid wondering: how much more successful could he have been had Schumacher not been around, and he been the team-leader at Ferrari during those years? Would he have been able to seize the chances presented to him, in the same way that Button has this year?

Though they may be academic, such questions help put Barrichello's career in perspective. It would be no discredit if he were to retire without a world title under his belt. After all, there are plenty of highly capable drivers who have never won the championship - from Stirling Moss through to David Coulthard, and many others besides.

Unfortunately, however, the annals of Formula One history record as greats only those whose cars sport the number 1, not the nearly-men and also-rans, however good they may be. Barrichello may come to regret this season's missed opportunities.

Photo reproduced under the Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 license from an image uploaded to Flickr.com by formula1wolf.