Barrichello open to Ferrari return

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Rubens Barrichello says he would be happy to return to Ferrari if he was asked, despite some “spicy episodes” in the past.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Rubens ready for Ferrari return (The Sun)

“If they call me today to go drive for them I would go. It was the best team I’ve ever driven for in terms of support, of creativity. But there were definitely some spicy episodes.”

Mercedes system is ‘hard to copy’ (BBC)

Ross Brawn: “The opposition is so fierce [because] there’s a recognition it’s quite difficult to do.”

Brawn: Set-up will unlock car’s potential (Autosport)

“On Fridays we run the car in race trim and we are quite diligent in running the right kind of fuel loads to represent race conditions. And we think other people don’t run more fuel than us, because it would be difficult for them to run more fuel than us. So if you look at the comparative lap times, we think we are okay.”

F1 Fanatic via Twitter

“Lotus’s deputy technical director Naoki Tokunaga is leaving the team to become technical director at Renault Sport.”

The Inside Line – on Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen (F1)

“Q: What’s your favourite smell?
HK: Petrol!”

Comment of the day

The most populous nation in the planet could have an F1 driver soon:

Congratulations to Ma. Many guys and I have been paying attention to his motorsport career for a long time, and we also hang out to have fun at the karting track run by his father. Happy to see him rekindle China’s F1 hopes through this presence. – From a Chinese fan in Shanghai.
Michael Hu

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Luigi Villoresi won the non-championship Valentino Grand Prix in Turin, Italy, years ago today, driving a Ferrari 375.

Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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73 comments on “Barrichello open to Ferrari return”

  1. He’d be better than Massa lol

    1. Maybe on Massa’s current form he will be better than him. But lets face it, I’d be paying Rubens a compliment by calling him an average driver.

      Rubens really comes off as a doormat with these statements. After making his hatred for Ferrari and Schumacher very apparent, he makes a statement that shows that he has no self respect and will stoop to a new desperate level to stay associated with f1.

      1. Absolutely. Nothing prevented him from bad-mouthing Schumacher nd Co. when it was convenient. I mean,c’mon Rubens,give it a break,you’re just not good enough any more!!!

        1. i am not sure but i think Rubens was faster than Maldonaldo last year, and Maldonaldo is not the slowest man on track

          1. Absolutely correct! Rubens’ days in F1 aren’t over yet. He’ll soon be back and he’s going to finish his career in Ferrari with style. I like it babe!

      2. I guess he didn’t bring this up himself but rather just answered a question. And it is his right to answer or feel that way. But then again, no matter how well he would do, I think there is no doubt in anyones mind that Alonso would beat him comprehensively and what happens then? Would Barrichello accept the number-two-until-Perez role? Or would he start crying about how unfairly he was treated, just like against Schumacher and in part Brawn/Button?!
        I have nothing against him, I just think it is good for everyone that he has found a new game to play and I’m quite sure Massa will score a couple of points in the coming races and this discussion will slow down.

        1. Rubens is one of the best drivers ever! Like it or not. And Rubens will return on F1. Again, like it or not! Cheers.

  2. Dont worry yourself Rubens, it wont happen! Ferrari maybe looking to the past with rose tinted glasses at the moment given their current car, but I highly doubt they’ll turn back to the past for a driver, rather, they’ll look to the future, i.e. Sergio Perez.

    1. I’m not an F1 driver (when awake), nor am I enraptured by the Ferrari mythology, but if I were Sergio, I’d stay with Sauber after that last race.

      1. A bit part of Perez’s result was Sauber’s strategy and the weather. I would not expect him to get that kind of result on a regular basis – and he’s not expecting it, either.

        1. Big part? Guess so, but the Ferrari was similarly blessed, maybe not to the same degree. And other good car/driver combinations missed out, of course. Another part is the tyre management of car and driver which seem to be perfectly matched in Perez/Sauber.

      2. I’d stay with Sauber after that last race.

        At the moment, Ferrari’s actual pace seems to be floundering, but in the long term, Ferrari are a far better bet for a championship challenge or even regular race wins than Sauber.

      3. I’m not an F1 driver (when awake),

        Simply awesome :)

  3. Easy to say that when you’re out of F1, I guess.

    It’s also easy to say that because, like ir or not, it was the only place for him to succed, even as a Number 2. He was No. 2 in the best of the teams for 5 years, hardly the worst place to be.

    1. He also did pretty well at Brawn.

  4. Valentino Grand Prix in Turin, Italy, years ago today

    60 :)

  5. I cannot understand why they cant get some promising youngster instead of Rubens. Surely, there is enough promising young talent around to substitute for a talented driver who has never been the same since the horrific accident. Ironic that Rubens wants his seat, considering the fact that it was a part of his car which led ( inadvertently ) to his demise.

    1. “They” are not even thinking of Reubens. RB was answering to an Italian magazine poll as to who it’s readers think should replace FM at Ferrari and RB topped the list over Trulli and Perez.

      As to ‘some promising youngster’ replacing FM…since Ferrari is a traditional top team I would much prefer they bring in a top driver to challenge FA, not someone who is there to learn and climb the ladder. I think we the viewing audience deserve the best possible drivers at Ferrari, there to contribute and challenge FA, not be his student. For me, the students belong on the lesser teams, not the top teams. Not that I expect Ferrari to heed my desire. I just think that is the way it should be in F1. Real racing amongst proven gladiators on the top teams for the greatest show possible to the paying audience.

  6. A spicy combination, should Ferrari actually give him the chance. He showed real talent (in my eyes) back in 2009, and talent like that doesn’t just disappear. I reckon the extra experience will also be useful in sorting out the mess Ferrari’s technical team have gotten themselves into.

    1. I reckon the extra experience will also be useful in sorting out the mess Ferrari’s technical team have gotten themselves into.

      @scuderiavincero his experience didn’t seem to help Williams dig themselves out of the hole they were in last season. Unless you feel it was his input that helped them improve the car for this year?

      1. IMHO, I feel it was Rubens (directly or indirectly) who convinced the powers that be in Williams to make the necessary changes to their technical team. My 2 cents of course

  7. I don’t think this is really on the cards. This remark is probably just an answer to something an interviewer asked him. Or did I miss something huge?

    1. Slackbladder1
      8th April 2012, 7:55

      I agree Rubens has more class than to just blurt something like that out, you know how the media is!

  8. Does anybody know what the Ferrari’s black nose was in respect of? Was it the London bombings?

    1. It was for the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005

      1. After seeing the fugly cars from this season all over of the articles here It’s nice to see a really good looking one every now and then. I remember when Ferrari did the black nose, as they did after the September 11 attacks, people were saying that they liked the gesture but thought it looked ugly. If only they knew what was coming…

    2. It was to honour the deaths of the 2001 terrorist attacks in America. Well, actually the cars that year ran without any sponsorship what-so-ever – just a red car with a black nose – but the one in the picture above still has logos. I’m not sure when that was from.

      1. @oblong_cheese It was from the Bahrain Grand Prix 2005. Pope John Paul II passed away the evening before the race.

  9. Simply an honest answer to some reporter’s hypothetical question, I’m sure. I would doubt that Rubens is really expecting to get that phone call!

  10. Guys, it’s from the Sun.
    The writer of the article (I struggle to call them a journalist) probably asked, “Would you return to Ferrari if they asked to you replace Massa?”
    His answer was Yes, which is the answer that most people would give.

    When pressed further by the interviewer about some of the troubles he had at Ferrari, he brushed them off as a non-issue.

    The only person to seriously consider Rubens driving for Ferrari again is the writer of that article.

    1. Spot on.

      1. soundscape (@)
        6th April 2012, 3:34

        Your comment made me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBL2Wq5YjSw

    2. I’m brazilian, and he said that on TV. I saw it, and sincerely i think he souldn’t say it.
      One of the main resoans tha he’s not respected (by most of the people) here is because he don’t know when to shut it up. He always whines about everything in his career. I believe that a statemente like that, made on TV is desrepectfull to his team in IndyCar Series. He has to accept that his F1 career it’s over.

      1. He said right before and after his Indy deal that F1 wasn’t finished busness for him.

        I don’t see how that’s being “disrespectful” to his team in IndyCar. He said what he said all the time.

        Besides, he never said he wants to be back in F1 in that article. He just highlights that, if asked, he’d return to Ferrari, even after playing Number 2 to Schumacher. That’s where the discussion goes…

    3. @davids, that is the Sun reporting there. Being shabby with details! They cite a brazilian TV station as the source, when in fact it was. Rubens answering a fan questions in the 63rd episode in Peter Windsors’s “the flying lap” online show yesterday evening – maybe put in a link to that show @keithcollantine
      I saw that live, really great interview and Rubens was very open about things. Watch out for the telling silence and smile when asked what he thinks of Parr leaving Williams.

      1. sorry the 64th show already, seems that is not yet up for download

      2. yep, its still going for reruns here – http://smibs.tv/live

        1. The article cited says he was asked to comment about having topped a poll done by an Italian magazine as to who should replace FM at Ferrari…RB got the nod over Trulli and Perez in the poll.

          How silly…that said it sounds to me like RB would have preferred not to leave F1 yet. But back to Ferrari? Pigs will fly first. If he thinks it would be any better now that MS isn’t there he should look at who his teammate would be. I think it is poor of him to imply he would go at the drop of a hat. Doesn’t say much for his commitment to his new venture in Indycar. I’m sure he is enjoying that somewhat, but it sounds like his heart is still in F1. Probably because he never really had a proper sendoff. Suddenly he was gone and we didn’t have a season of ‘Reuben’s last this race or that…last Brazilian race, last Monaco, last Italian GP etc’…

          1. Not sure about that, but what he said yesterday was that 1. he is happy to be in Indycar but 2. if called by any of the F1 teams would offer him a ride, he would possibly say yes to that, if offered a deal he liked.

            It really was in response to a direct question of what he would do if called by Ferrari. Not something he brought up himself. Although he did say that it was not his choice to stop doing F1, and he does not think that F1 is definitively over for him.

          2. Not sure if your ‘Not sure about that’ comment was directed at me, but I think we are pretty much in agreement anyway. In the Sun article it states that this started from a poll done in an Italian magazine as to who should replace FM at Ferrari, and RB got the nod by the readers of the magazine over Trulli and Perez. So if he was speaking further to it on Brazilian TV or on Windsor’s online show I see it as only coming up on those other media because it came up from this magazine poll and others are running with it. Nobody within F1, nor RB, brought this up.

            “If they call me today to go drive for them I would go.” That taken from this site’s article above, so if he also said in an interview that he is happy to be in Indycar I just question how happy, and given that he flip flops often enough about his time at Ferrari, I think RB will say whatever seems appropriate to say from one interview to the next.

            As to RB not thinking F1 is definitively over for him…that may be the case…he might be hanging on to some glimmer of hope, but I think that speaks more to his sudden ousting from the F1 world to his dismay, than it speaks to his chances of getting back in…I think he has greater odds of being hit by lightning.

  11. Someone should ask Eddie Irvine if he would make a come back too

    1. Or maybe Prost… :-p

  12. nice looking Ferrari, reminds me of Noic Echeins….

    Barrichello , No

  13. Nice choice of picture for the article, too.
    Felipe Massa is in the background.

    1. That one was straight from the F1Fanatic archive, nice choice indeed!

  14. F1 driver with MADE IN CHINA written on him? Hmmm…

  15. I am quite certain Rubens’ days in F1 are over.

    However, one must admire his optimism and desire to return, especially when considering the rather obvious conclusion that he would most likely be a firm ‘number 2′ once again, if it happened with Ferrari.

    Then again, despite his protestations at his treatment when teamed with Schumacher, most of us know he’d do it all again if he could…

  16. Italian magazine Autosprint is apparently reporting that Formula 1 will return to Argentina in 2013, replacing the Korean Grand Prix, even though Korea managed to get a new contract with a reduced rate.

    1. Yeah, I saw that too. It will be interesting to see how the calendar ultimately turns out, what with the conflicting messages. I don’t think F1 itself has made an official announcement on Argentina just yet.

      1. The president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, says that a deal will be signed later this month. April 22nd was the date given, I believe.

  17. Rubens you’ve done nothing but whinge about Ferrari since the day you left so sadly I don’t think you will be getting call up from them. Come to think of it maybe you will as Fiat require a Brazilian driver in the Ferrari team (when was last time Ferrari didn’t run a Brazilian driver?) and your probably the best one currently going around.

  18. Rubens is wonderful in so many ways but,. I hope he gives someone else a chance.

    1. Well said @justinf1. I can understand that he wouldn’t mind trying to see if he can beat Alonso and prove to Ferrari what a mistake they made in letting him go, but really, after all that has gone on between them?

      I haven’t yet seen the Flying Lap from yesterday where he talks about this (problem with (installation of?) newest flash player), but let him concentrate on IndyCar for now. Last race he ended up pretty decently after all.

  19. A very happy birthday @lak, I hope you have a great day to relax and enjoy it with friends and family.

  20. Happy birthday LAK, hope you enjoy a great day.

  21. I don’t think there’s much need to make it apparent that Rubens won’t be driving for Ferrari. Just enjoy his comment for what it is. He clearly has a lot of respect for the team and even after playing second fiddle to Schumacher.

  22. well i guess that it couldnt have been that bad at ferrari! hes quick enough to talk bad of them when it suits him.

  23. I’m a big fan of Rubens, but these kind of comments by him really annoy me, I just wish he would accept the fact that his F1 career is now over, not how, he or anyone else had wanted it, but he spent 19 seasons in F1 which already says a lot, so he has nothing to prove at the end of the day. Now I just wish that he would focus on getting some success in Indycar’s, a series which I am sure has gone up in many people’s estimations, its a new chapter in his racing career and I think he should focus on completing it, embrace his destiny.

  24. I don’t know if Rubens is being serious here or just taking the michael! If he really thinks he stands a chance then fine, but what about the people in Indycar who have taken him on and the sponsors? He’s the oldest driver on the Indycar grid, and hasn’t exactly challenged for wins in the two races he has completed.
    For those who have brought up Barrichello’s criticisms’ of Ferrari in the seven years since he raced for them they bring up a valuable point! We all know that Schumacher got the goldmine and Rubens the shaft at Ferrari, but I seriously doubt that Ferrari enjoy having that subject discussed in public. If they were to take on Rubens, one could safely assume that it would only be until the end of the season. By that I am openly suggesting that Sergio Perez would be the man Ferrari would want in 2013, and that possibly a deal has already been done with Sauber.
    If I were them, I would keep Felipe Massa on until the end of the season and then drop him if his poor form continues. Who knows, maybe Peter Sauber would take Massa back next year but then again he may not want him. If Massa keeps driving like he is few would want him, especially when the trade off is Sergio Perez. Barrichello to Ferrari, it all seems a little pie in the sky to me!

    1. Lol…”taking the michael.”

      Just to reiterate…RB didn’t bring this up…he was commenting when it was pointed out to him that an Italian magazine did a poll as to who should replace FM at Ferrari, and he beat out Trulli and Perez in the poll. There is absolutely nothing to this.

      I think his hypocritical remarks about Ferrari that fly in the face of the majority of his remarks and sentiments about the team just show to me that he really really didn’t want to leave F1 yet, and at a minimum didn’t get to have a ‘send-off’ year of ‘this is Reuben’s last Brazillian GP etc etc.’ He just suddenly disappeared off the face of the F1 world. And I too took note of his surprisingly sounding like he would leave Indycar at the drop of a hat if he were offered an F1 seat. And I think that if by some huge miracle he found himself back at Ferrari, he would only find himself in the same boat with FA as his teammate.

  25. if Ferrari would really looking for another driver to replace Felipe Massa in the middle (or more like at the very beginning) of the season, there would be plenty of options. (However, I don’t think they would replace someone that serves the team for like 10 years, including his loan to Sauber…)
    – Sergio Perez will definetley be a Ferrari driver one day. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but time will come.
    – Jules Bianchi wasn’t sent to Force India for nothing, gaining some experience on a couple of fridays would be enough for a driver seat somewhere next year, and in a few years time at Ferrari maybe.
    (- Robert Kubica unfortunately is not on the list of any F1 teams anymore I’m afraid, although he was tipped to team up with Fernando Alonso at Ferrari one day.)
    – Why would you let Mika Salo test your car, if you have Giancarlo Fisichella at your disposal? However, his return is unlikely, despite he and Alonso got on quite well.
    – and finally here we have the experienced, but currently unemployed ex-F1 drivers, like Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil, or (the less experienced) Jaime Alguersuari that, as in Rubens’ case, would jump onto this possibility.

    The other interesting question, that what would Massa do after losing his seat, as he was never contracted to another team as Ferrari, currently noone would sign him, and if they would, would they tolerate if Felipe wouldn’t match his teammates pace?

  26. Rubens ‘The-Older-I-Get-The-Better-I-Was’ Barrichello has shown his true colors once again. First, he openly supports Massa saying that Felipe hasn’t lost his speed, he just needs to get the joy of driving back. Then, asked if he’d raplace Massa, he says he most definitely would (not that Ferrari were considering him, of course). Great backstabbing from Rubinho, as always. RB didn’t even realize (until recently, apparently) how good he had it at Ferrari. He was openly badmouthing Michael and the team, going against the team spirit, and still got the drive for many years (and a very lucrative fee at that), while 3-times WDC Alain Prost got fired for lesser sins.

    Sorry Rubens, you’ve got a lot more than you deserved based on your limited talent. Now you’ve found the place you belong – a second-tier open wheeler series.

    1. I think RB always knew what his role would be at Ferrari…I think he went into his contracts with them eyes wide open…the good news RB is that you are going to drive for Ferrari, something you haven’t really earned…the bad news…you’ll not be winning the WDC…perhaps the odd win when MS can’t be helped, but otherwise…

      And I think the problem for RB became that they never really spelled out to him, until it was obvious to the world, just how subservient he would have to be. So ya, he went against the ‘team spirit’ because he found out there really was no ‘team’ at all, in the traditional sense, and that it was really far and away about one driver, from race one of every season. No inter-team racing allowed.

      So it’s really always been a double-edged sword for RB/Ferrari…I think that is why at times when it suits him in an interview he sounds honoured to have driven for Ferrari no matter how it played out for him and will even try to sound like he was allowed to compete (ie. I’m no stooge), and at other times he is saying he is going to write a tell-all book and confirm that we don’t know the half of what went on at MS/Ferrari, as shown by Austria 02 (where he was an obvious stooge).

      1. There is certainly much truth in that. But it is also true that Rubens on his best day was only just better than Michael on his worst day. And as the years go by, Rubens is getting more and more vocal how he was almost equal to Michael. His latest estimate, I believe, is that he was less than 0.1s slower. He’s accumulated a lot of sympathy for various reasons (mostly having nothing to do with his racecraft), so people are happy to let it slide. But to me his attitude stinks.
        At least Eddie Irvine, a playboy that he was, has once been in the position (and under tremendous pressure) to challenge for a WDC. And yet, he openly said that MS was where he was because he was faster and could drive around the cars’ problems like noone else, plain and simple. In contrast, RB was always blaming something else, preferrably the team. That was the case with Ferrari, and then with Brawn, when his whining became particularly apparent because it was not against MS, who some people simply love to hate, but rather against JB, who is considered a great sportsman all over the isles.

        1. @AlexNK Agree with you, even in Brawn he just lack that star power compare to Button. Imo i think Nick Heidfeld s slightly better than Rubens.

  27. Thank you @bascb @bosyber and @keithcollantine for the Birthday wishes!! :D

  28. @LAK happy birthday sis,enjoy the time,hope we will see you in the Bahrain grandstand!

  29. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    7th April 2012, 5:09

    What makes Rubens think Ferrari could EVER ask him that?

  30. Keeps dreaming Rubens

  31. Santino (@santinosirignano19)
    7th April 2012, 19:10

    whats with all the Rubens slating even from his ” so called” Fans? stop saying hes past it, when hes not? Michael and Pedro are still going strong and they are older and again given the right car they are capable of running at the front as Michael is proving! so no reason Rubens cant! youre all probably Jealous because he has been able to fulfil his dreams for a long time and can still continue! ill be laughing so much when he comes back to F1 and then when he retires from F1 should be up to him!! so Rubens for Ferrari in 2012 or 2013 at another team!

    1. Just keep in mind…nobody in F1, and not even RB, brought this up…it was a poll done by an Italian magazine and it’s readers voted RB over Trulli and Perez, but that has nothing to do with any reality in terms of an actual opportunity for RB to return to F1.

      Perhaps they should have asked RB if he was actively pursuing a ride in F1 while he does Indycar…then maybe we’d know if there is any reality to his comment that he doesn’t think he is done in F1, which I think speaks more to his unceremonious leaving from F1 feeling like unfinished business to him. He might not think he is done in F1, but I think the F1 world is done with him.

  32. Well, Despite some contrasting views on race performance with Ferrari in the past, i’ll not hold it against them while i’m without a drive.

    So, if they ring me up, i’ll take the seat if they want…..

    Might as well throw my name into the none-existent hat of no hope as well.

  33. I like how Massa is in the background of the picture at the top in the Sauber! :) Nice litttle touch :)

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