Jenson Button commented on the period when he had Rubens Barrichello as his teammate in Formula 1, praising the Brazilian’s technical insight and complimenting the competitor.
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Rubinho, as he is also known, left Ferrari at the end of the 2005 season to sign with Honda from 2006. This ended his stint with the Maranello team and his partnership with Michael Schumacher.
Therefore, speaking about the period he raced alongside Barrichello, the 2009 Formula 1 champion commented on the importance the Brazilian brought with his knowledge. “It’s funny. I’ve been asked this question many times: ‘Who is the driver you think was the best in engineering?’ And, by far, it was Rubens, in working with the team, in car development, in understanding what the car was doing on the track and in the feedback of that information,” he said to Beyond the Grid.
“But also simply understanding what to do with the car, not just leaving the engineer to handle everything. And that’s what he really impressed with. And I understand why Michael [Schumacher] wanted him as a teammate for so many years. I was lucky to have that when we started racing together, and I could really see the skill set he had that I didn’t even know existed,” he continued.
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When asked if Rubens brought a winning mentality to the team, Button stated that “I wouldn’t say exactly a winning mentality. We all want to win. We’re all doing the best we can to win. It’s not about amateur teams facing Ferrari, but hundreds of people with a lot of experience in the sport.”
“So, the mentality to win has always been there. It’s just that we didn’t exactly have the package needed for that. But having feedback from two experienced drivers was really important. And, obviously, they will listen a lot to Rubens, because he came from Ferrari and worked alongside Michael.”
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