Being at Brawn was a perfect predicament for a fan like myself of Rubens. He had a hell of a team behind him that had suffered the hard times of Honda and grown stronger from their troubles, he had a wonderful friend as a teammate in Jenson Button, he had a boss in Ross Brawn who is a Formula 1 mastermind and, possibly most importantly for Rubens, he had a car that could win and perform like others on the grid couldn’t. Surely you can understand why moving away from Brawn to me would be a downgrade, and yes, I will admit I still do consider it a downgrade when I think of the Cosworth engine being used but I’m starting to look forward to new times at Williams.
This year has been a truly awesome year to be a fan of the man. He got his first win and pole in several years since his days at Ferrari, not to mention the fact he recovered a seat even I considered lost at times with Bruno Senna arrival into Formula 1 which eventually didn’t happen until the recent Campos announcement, and even though he’s had his critics at times with media comments or whatnot, Rubens can be immensely proud of everything he has achieved at both Honda and at Brawn over their 4 year career partnership. It is a shame that he’ll be moving away from Brackley next year.
From Brackley though he goes to Oxfordshire and to Sir Frank Williams’ world of Williams. I will admit that I have far less support for Williams in comparison to what I knew and loved about Brawn, but what I do know and respect is that Williams are a team with incredible history behind them and are run wonderfully well as an independent team. It makes me smile that Rubens will be moving from independent to independent team which is really nice, and Rubens will no doubt be considered the number one driver at the team with rookie Nico Hulkenburg getting the opportunity to look up to Rubens’ experience as an F1 driver. It’ll be strange supporting a Williams as I haven’t been behind them since the days of Damon Hill in that gorgeous Rothmans Williams to be honest… but as I’ve previously stated, now I am looking forward to it.
So bring on 2010 after this on season and another year of Formula 1. What is most important no matter what team is that Rubens will still be on the Formula 1 grid going into his 300th race next season, an achievement that no other driver has beaten, and that this could be his final swansong. It’s absolutely worth thanking everyone at Brawn GP and those who departed over the winter from the Honda fallout for all their efforts to be such an awesome team behind Rubens at Brackley during his time there, and especially for making 2009 such a special year for Rubens Barrichello. It’s been such a wild, wonderful and emotional year to be a fan and, despite missing out on the championship, I wouldn’t have wanted it to be anything less.
So… what will happen next in the long and winding road that is Rubens’ career? Only time will tell – let’s just hope the success continues!
1 comments:
Really chuffed for Rubens that he will be back on the grid next year. After all these years he still has the passion and the enthusiasm and he seems a truly nice guy.
Good luck at Williams Rubens :)
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