Barrichello laments lost chances
by Nick Royle, 14 May 2008
Rubens Barrichello believes that if the team spirit of his early days at Jordan had been replicated at Ferrari, he could have recorded many more than his nine wins for the marque.
"Obviously I drove fantastic cars [at Ferrari]. I won my nine races. We could go on and say I could have won 18, 27,” he told Setanta Sports.
“I could have done loads of other things if the spirit was the same as the one I had at Jordan and Stewart for example, or even Honda now."
Barrichello was forced to play second fiddle to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, and admitted that he had to accept that.
“The spirit there was like 'Ok, let's give the same equipment to both drivers but the German has a little bit more of a strategy option'.
"I feel very glad about the nine wins because whenever I did win I had to beat Michael, the whole group [of drivers] and the Ferrari because I had to take the second option always. It's not that a feel all sad about it. I feel good, I feel I grew up a lot and, like I said, I drove really nice cars. But I could have done a lot better."
Honda’s Barrichello, who passed the record for most Grand Prix run-outs in the Turkey GP on Sunday, has fond memories of his time at Irish team Jordan.
"Yes, I do remember the first time I ran a Jordan," he continued.
"You [Setanta Sports analyst Gary Anderson] were the only one who treated me well that day. Eddie Jordan, kind of 'Six laps and get out of the car'. If you remember the test a week later was at a very wet Silverstone and the times were really competitive so I was in the family already,” he said.
"I really enjoyed that time [at Jordan]. With the resources we had, little money, there was a lot of competence. The car was very well balanced, especially in 1994 - it was a nice car to drive. Not a lot of power but very driveable. Brian Hart was part of us as well [at that stage] and he was doing a fantastic job."