Rubens Barrichello

Now 39-years-old, Barrichello has achieved two longevity milestones over the past few seasons. He became the most experienced driver in the sport's history in Turkey in 2008 and then last year raced in his 300th grand prix.

In between times, though, Barrichello also showed that he still has what it takes: finishing third in the 2009 drivers' championship after wins in Valencia and Italy made him a late-season title contender.

That Indian summer more than likely represented Barrichello's last shot at the world championship - the decision to spend his best years as Michael Schumacher's team-mate at Ferrari resulting in a career that has arguably not lived up to its early promise.

Having raced karts as a youngster, Barrichello came to Britain where he won the national F3 title in 1991. Third place in the F3000 championship followed before, not yet 21, he graduated to the top flight with Jordan.

Barrichello scored his first podium finish at the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix but was lucky to escape with his life in a crash at Imola two weeks later.

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix has since gone down as one of the blackest in F1 history, with three-time world champion Ayrton Senna and rookie Roland Ratzenberger both killed in accidents during the course of the weekend.

Barrichello suffered a high-speed airborne impact at Variante Bassa during Friday practice in which he lost consciousness and swallowed his tongue.

He recovered in time for the next race at Monaco - where another driver, Karl Wendlinger, also nearly lost his life in a practice crash - and went on to secure his first pole position later that season at Spa-Francorchamps.

But despite picking up second places in Canada the following year and at Monaco in 1997, career momentum was lost over the coming seasons.

Rubens moved from Jordan to the new Stewart team in 1997 but the Monaco result was something of an anomaly as he finished just three races that year.

The team - which can trace its lineage forward to 2010 title winners Red Bull - was bought out by Ford at the end of 1999 and that was Barrichello's best year with them, with three podium finishes helping them to secure seventh place in the standings.

Stewart's first and only victory also came in late 1999 in the wet-dry European Grand Prix - but it was team-mate Johnny Herbert who took the chequered flag at the Nurburgring, with Barrichello finishing third.

Still, his performances were such that Ferrari came calling and his first victory - having set the less-than-welcome record of having to wait longer than any F1 driver to do so - came at the 2000 German Grand Prix.

He scored eight other podium finishes that year on his way to fourth place in the drivers' championship - a vast improvement on his previous best but with Schumacher winning that year's world championship, the tone was set for seasons to come.

Barrichello scored nine wins in all during six seasons at Ferrari, finished runner-up in the drivers' championship twice, and there were occasions when he was the class of the field.

The 2003 British Grand Prix was one such weekend, as was the Austrian Grand Prix the year before, when Barrichello also outqualified and outraced Schumacher before being ordered by Ferrari to let his team leader through within yards of the chequered flag.

That race, which led to the ban on team orders that has been rescinded for the 2011 season, summed up the thankless situation - team-mate to a man around whom the team functioned - Barrichello found himself in.

In 2005, the 33-year-old decided it was 'now or never' and announced that he would jump ship and join BAR - who were soon to be bought out by Honda - the following season.

Teamed with Jenson Button, however, Barrichello failed to assert himself and ended the year 26 points behind the Englishman - who scored the team's first win in Hungary - in the drivers' standings.

Hopes that the might of the Japanese manufacturer would help turn the team into title contenders were to prove hopelessly awry though as Honda spent the next two seasons going downhill.

Indeed, Barrichello failed to score points for the first time in his F1 career in 2007 as he grappled with a car his team-mate labelled "a complete dog".

Matters didn't improve the following year, although Barrichello at least picked up some points this time, mainly thanks to a third place earned at a wet Silverstone on the back of the right tyre call.

Compatriot Bruno Senna tested for the team in November 2008, a move which appeared to pre-empt the younger man's graduation to a race seat in place of Barrichello.

But, after a winter of uncertainty following Honda's decision to withdraw from F1 ended with a management-led buyout, the move ultimately worked in Barrichello's favour.

Team boss Ross Brawn decided that Barrichello's experience would be vital, both in lieu of their late start to pre-season preparations and also because in-season testing had been banned as a cost-cutting measure.

Barrichello claimed eight points-finishes in the first nine races, four of which were podium results. However, he was not able to match Button, who won six of the first seven races to claim a 26-point lead in the drivers' championship by mid-season.

He was frustrated by the situation at times, with races in Spain - where he had led before finishing second behind Button - and Germany ending with an emotional Barrichello coming close to accusing the team of favouring the Englishman.

However, a personal breakthrough also came around the same time after Barrichello switched to a brake material he preferred. With the tyre warming problem Brawn experienced during the summer also hampering him less than Button, better results started to come.

Victories in Valencia - Barrichello's first since 2004 - and at Monza followed and with Button appearing more circumspect, he had the chance to set up a title showdown after claiming pole position for his home race in Brazil.

It wasn't to be, however, as Button, who started 14th on the grid, managed to get ahead of his team-mate during the race - a reverse that happened to Barrichello far more during the season than he would have wished.

A move to Williams followed and while 2010 did not scale the same heights, Barrichello finished consistently in the points to end the season 10th in the standings.

He also managed to outperform highly-regarded rookie team-mate Nico Hulkenberg during the year and with the German being - somewhat unfortunately it must be said - eased out the door late last year, he will be partnered by Pastor Maldonado in 2011.