Rubens Barrichello had one of the fastest climbs from karting to Formula One than any other driver of his generation. By the age of 17, he had five national karting titles, and promptly went on to win the GM Euroseries in the same year. Formula 3 came next, where he won the title in 1991 for West Surrey Racing. He had less success the next year, when he tried Formula 3000, but he finished third overall and was ready for Formula One by his 21st birthday - a rarity at the time.

He made his F1 debut in 1993 with Jordan at the South African Grand Prix where he qualified 14th, but the gearbox failed him on lap 31. He nearly finished in second place, behind his hero and countryman, Ayrton Senna, in only his third race at Donington but fuel problems brought his late charge to a premature end.

In 1994, he claimed his first pole position, in the wet at Spa Francorchamps, and then went on to finish third at the Pacific Grand Prix. Mechanical failures plagued the team in 1995, but the Canadian Grand Prix saw him finish second.

He stayed with Jordan until the 1997 season when he signed with Stewart, bringing home the team's only points when he came second in Monaco. 1998 was another year with little success and in 1999 he partnered Johnny Herbert. Barrichello put in some strong performances and his reward was a move to the Ferrari team.

Armed with race winning equipment for the first time, the 2000 season brought his first F1 career win at Hockenheim and his efforts helped Ferrari clinch victory in the constructors' championship while the Brazilian finished fourth overall in the drivers' battle.

Although no further victories were forthcoming in 2001, Barrichello battled it out for second place in the drivers' championship with McLaren driver David Coulthard but failed to pass the Scot and was forced to settle for third. In 2002 another four wins came his way, the most notorious being the US Grand Prix when together with team-mate Michael Schumacher, the duo attempted a formation finish. It didn't work out however as Schumacher miscalculated and Barrichello took the victory away by 0.011s.

After finishing second in the 2002 championship behind his Ferrari team-mate, Barrichello suffered a poor season by Ferrari's high standards in 2003 as both Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya separated the Brazilian from championship winner and team-mate Schumacher.

The 2004 season saw Barrichello take two race victories, but both wins came after Schumacher had already wrapped up his title and it can be argued that such was the dominance of Ferrari at the time, anything other than the runner up position in the championship for Barrichello was a failure.

Along with team-mate Schumacher and the whole Ferrari team, Barrichello struggled in 2005. The Bridgestone-Ferrari package was well and truly beaten but its main rivals and the Brazilian would score just four podiums on his way to a disappointing eighth position in the championship. After some time in the shadow of Michael Schumacher - and the Brazilian publicly blaming his team-mate for an unsportsmanlike and dangerous manoeuvre at Monaco - Barrichello jumped at the chance to join Honda for 2006.

It was slow going at first as Barrichello struggled with the characteristics of his Honda-Michelin package despite thousands of miles of pre-season testing. Indeed, it was not until the second half of the season that Barrichello was on a par with team-mate Jenson Button.

Barrichello's second season at Honda would prove another disappointment. The car was off the pace and Barrichello, now very much a veteran, lost motivation and for the first time in his long career, failed to score a championship point.

Barrichello put in a spirited performance in the dreadful RA108. While Button lost motivation, Barrichello pushed hard scoring 11 of Honda's 14 points over the season and became the most experienced Grand Prix driver in history with some 270 plus starts to his credit.

Against the odds, Barrichello returns to the series in 2009 having concluded a deal to race alongside Button once again in what is now the new Brawn Grand Prix team following Honda's exit from the sport.