Exclusive: Rubens Barrichello reflects on his years as a Ferrari driver and team-mate to Michael Schumacher which saw him become part of an iconic Formula 1 dynasty

Rubens Barrichello was Michael Schumacher’s team-mate at Ferrari for six years(Image: AFP)

Rubens Barrichello has shared the secrets behind the “magic” period which saw Ferrari dominate Formula 1. The Brazilian, as team-mate to seven-time World champion Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s, was a vital cog in the machine which saw the Scuderia steamroller the opposition.

He joined in 2000 when Ferrari were already constructors’ champions and was a dependable ally to Schumacher as he won five drivers’ titles in a row. “It was magic,” he told our free F1 newsletter Pit Lane Chronicle. “Ferrari went 19 years without a win and, all of a sudden, I was part of something magic.”

Barrichello, now 53, had spent years driving for midfield teams Jordan and then Stewart Grand Prix, before he got the call from Ferrari boss Jean Todt. “People knew how much I like to set up the car and I think that’s what they needed,” he said.

“They needed someone to join the big team to make it better in setting up things. I used to try all the tires, I used to try setups, I used to try a lot of things. The year in ’99 with Stewart, with a really good car, I showed that, with a good car, I was capable of getting to the top.”

He immediately proved it in a Ferrari, finishing second on debut behind only team-mate Schumacher in Melbourne. Barrichello’s maiden victory followed later that year at the Hockenheimring which, in his eighth F1 season, he said felt like “relief more than anything else”.

He won nine times over six seasons with Ferrari, while team leader Schumacher was the one who got all the World championship glory. But it was a true team effort to give both drivers a car capable of that, the most celebrated trio of key people being boss Todt, technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne.

Barrichello said: “For everything in life, you need really good organisation and a good leader. A good leader means the one that is not going to go there and say, ‘Why didn’t you do this correctly?’ It’s, ‘How can I help you to make your work better?’ That team had that kind of mood.

“They had people doing the right things because they loved what they did. Ross Brawn, he didn’t do too many things – he did thing one properly. Jean Todt did one thing properly, the drivers did it properly. The mechanics were where they wanted to be.

“It was a good team in everything that happened. The attitude at the aerodynamics, with the wind tunnel and everything, was just getting better. It was a really good team with a really good car.”

It was a remarkable period of success for Ferrari(Image: AFP)

Ferrari’s last constructors’ title came in 2008, after Barrichello had lost his place to fellow Brazilian Felipe Massa and joined Honda. Internal politics have often got in Ferrari’s way, while the team also became prone to operational failures.

But Barrichello insists it would be unfair for him to judge and believes different eras of F1 are not comparable. He said: “Nowadays, we as the public, we know too much. I just feel that people just say too much – you should talk within the team to sort out stuff.

“It’s tough – to be a Ferrari driver is not easy. It wasn’t easy in my time when they already had [mobile phones], but right now you have social media. I think, in that respect, I lived in the right moment because I just stayed quiet.

“I was quiet for the public but not quiet inside the team. The team needs to know what is right, what is wrong, and the driver needs to know what’s right or what’s wrong. But [today] there are too many people knowing.”