Michael Schumacher’s successes at Ferrari kept Rubens Barrichello in the shade. The arrival of the Brazilian to the Italian team coincided with the five consecutive World Cups of the ‘Kaiser’which removed any possibility of being able to shine dressed in red.
It is always difficult to see how others win, even more so if it is your teammate. At that point, it is not strange in the Great Circus that one of the pilots of a team becomes a teammate of the other. That was what happened to Barrichello, who did it without protesting too much, to favor the functioning of the team and his own career in Formula 1.
With Michael it was different, many times we would end a match and then start another with him, in the end I understood that the team was his alone
The situation for him was not easy and Contrary to what he had experienced in Jordan and Stewart, Rubens did not find in Schumacher the support he needed. “I’ve always made friends and I’ve always had a good relationship with all my classmates, but Michael has never supported me. He has never been there to offer help, and I have never asked for it. With Michael it was different, many times we would end a match and then start another with him, in the end I understood that the team was his alone“, explains in the podcast ‘Beyond the Grid’.
Ferrari drivers cross the finish line in one of the closest finishes in F1
Forced to follow the instructions of the team?
In it Austrian GP 2002the Brazilian was leading the race when the team, specifically Jean Todt, he ordered him to let his companion pass. At first, he refused to do so, however, he ended up giving in on the last lap “for fear of a sudden dismissal”. The German won and Barrichello skipped the press conference. “That day I got off the podium and I didn’t go directly to the press room because I wasn’t well. I vomited from rage”recounted years later in TV Globe.
It was rumored that the Brazilian’s contract included a clause that prevented him from fighting on the track.However, the pilot himself denies it. “My contract did not say anything about not being able to fight Michael. For my sake, I have accepted so many things. There were many things that I refused, but to some I said yes because I spent six years waiting for my moment”assures.
Jean Todt, Michael Schumacher, Luca di Montezemolo and Rubens Barrichello
Nevertheless, Rubens acknowledges that the treatment of the team with each of its pilots was different: “Whenever they ask me, I always say that Michael He was stronger than me, without a doubt, but he had already been at Ferrari since 1996, he had four more years of experience in the team, and Jean Todt considered him as a son.“.
