Jenson Button has revealed the underappreciated quality possessed by Rubens Barrichello that made him Michael Schumacher’s prized Formula 1 team-mate at Ferrari.
Barrichello and Schumacher spent six hugely successful campaigns together as team-mates at the iconic Italian marque between 2000 and 2005.
During this time, not only did Ferrari win five Constructors’ championships on the trot, but this pairing also allowed Schumacher to bag five Drivers’ titles of his own, elevating him to seven-time F1 World Champion status.
Not devoid of its own controversies and team orders drama, the duo of Barrichello and Schumacher will go down in history as one of the most successful driver pairings of the sport.
Button, who also had the privilege of driving alongside the Brazilian, had the first-hand experience of what it was like to share a garage with Barrichello and has now revealed an underappreciated quality of his that explains why Schumacher was so enamoured with him.
“I’ve been asked this question many times in terms of who’s the driver that you feel was the best at engineering? And by far, it was Rubens,” he said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“At working with a team, developing a car, understanding what a car is doing out on track, and feeding that information back, but also just understanding what to do with the car, not just letting the engineer get on with it.
“That’s what he was really impressive at. I understand why Michael wanted him as a teammate for so many years.
“I was lucky enough to have that when we started racing together, and I could really see the skillset that he had that I never knew existed.”
Button opens up on his F1 Honda experience alongside Rubens Barrichello
The 2006 season was to be a turning point in Button’s F1 career. Honda entered the fray as a works outfit, and alongside Barrichello, the Briton enjoyed a stellar first year.
Button won his first career Grand Prix at Budapest, but while showing sparks of brilliance, the team could never achieve the success it had hoped for until Honda decided to pull the plug on the project at the end of the 2008 season.
Button opened up on his three years alongside Ayrton Senna’s protege, and how, despite the winning mentality within the squad, it could never fulfil its true potential under the iconic Honda badge.
“I mean, we all want to win. We’re all doing as much as we can to win,” he added.
“These aren’t amateur teams going up against Ferrari. This is hundreds of people and with a lot of experience in the sport.
“So I think the mentality was always there to be winning. It’s just we didn’t quite have the package to do that.
“But I think having feedback from two drivers with experience was really important. And obviously, they’re going to listen to Rubens quite a lot, because he’s come from Ferrari and he’s worked alongside Michael.”
Honda’s demise saw Brawn GP rise from the ashes – a one-season wonder that completely changed Button’s life, as he was crowned the 2009 F1 Champion the very next year.
Discussion about this post