Wednesday April 19th, 2000

Rubens Barrichello may be a Brazilian driving for an Italian team, but Silverstone is familiar territory for him.

Before he went to Ferrari, he had driven for two Grand Prix teams (Jordan and Stewart) based within a few miles of the track. Earlier than that, he raced in British Formula 3, and consequently spent many weekends at this weekend's venue.

This time, he is driving for Ferrari. "It's going to be different," he smiled. "For the first time, I'm not going to have a British car in a British Grand Prix. This will be the first time I'm not 'playing at home'.

"I've lived close to Silverstone myself, so I have really good friends there. I just wish they could improve the roads a little, because of the traffic. Last year I stayed there for four hours..."

This year's race marks the 10th anniversary of Barrichello's first appearance at the British Grand Prix. Back in 1990, he won the Formula Opel race at Silverstone. "I remember the Opel/Lotus race was quite a good experience. It was a good win in front of the Formula One people." A year later, he set fastest lap in the Formula 3 race.

Barrichello finished 10th on his first Formula One outing at Silverstone with Jordan in 1993 and, since then, he has achieved just a couple of fourth places. The first was in 1994, and it has stuck in his memory - for good reason!

"I didn't have the radio working, and I couldn't see my pitboard because it was right on Copse Corner," he recalls. "I went to overtake Mika Hakkinen at the last corner of the last lap - but I didn't know it was the last lap!

"He closed the door, we collided, and I broke my front suspension. And because I didn't have the radio, I went into the pits. They were shouting to me, 'Go, go, go!'. I crossed the line in the pit-lane in fifth place, instead of fourth. Then Michael Schumacher was disqualified from the race, so I could have been third! So at the end of the day I lost a point there. It's funny now, but it wasn't at the time..."

Rubens has no doubts about his worst Silverstone memory. On the first appearance of the Stewart Grand Prix team in 1997, it endured a nightmare weekend with a series of engine failures through practice and qualifying. "That was probably the most horrible time that I had in my career. I went out to qualify, and the engine exploded. I went out in the T-car, the set-up was completely different, and the engine wasn't doing very well. So I did a lap just to make sure I was qualified. I was hoping that Jan Magnussen's car was coming back for me to have a good chance. As he got out the car, Jan said: 'I'm sorry mate, the engine is not doing very well.' And as soon as I got out of the pits, that engine exploded as well..."

This year's race promises to be kinder to Rubens. After disappointing results in Brazil and San Marino, a podium finish is his target.