Barrichello is starting to find the time long
Determined to keep his seat at Williams for 2012, Rubens Barrichello admits that while he remains optimistic, he is beginning to find the time dragging.
Less than a month before the first winter trials, Williams still hasn’t decided on the main driver who will support Pastor Maldonado in 2012 and share his experience with Valtteri Bottas, the third driver of the Grove team who is expected to participate in fifteen Friday morning free practice sessions. Long considered ready for retirement, Rubens Barrichello never lost hope of retaining the seat he had occupied for the past two years and, having managed to gather 5 million dollars in investments, the man with 323 Grand Prix races is even back in the race while Adrian Sutil may be caught up by justice in the coming weeks following the Eric Lux affair and Bruno Senna’s experience does not seem to weigh heavily compared to Rubinho’s in the eyes of the British team’s engineers. However, the former Ferrari driver is beginning to find the wait lengthy: “Well, it’s taking a little longer than I would have liked, to be honest,” the Brazilian admitted on the show *The Flying Lap*, hosted by Peter Windsor. “I have approached things positively, as I always do: you have to believe in things and, if they don’t materialize yet, you have to convince yourself that they have materialized.”
The Paulista must, however, face rather tough competition, especially from those who can bring a budget to the team, while drivers such as Adrian Sutil, Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, and many members of GP2 and other feeder series are still on the market: « I am fighting for this seat. I think there are two other drivers who can potentially drive for Williams [Editor’s note: Sutil and Senna], but I feel I am a pretty good candidate and should keep driving there. The team will undergo a lot of changes with the engine, new faces, and I think the best thing I can say to the people at Williams is that experience is priceless. »
The Brazilian admits he is surprised himself by his determination to continue in Formula One, despite his already rich career: « Where will you find someone with as much experience as me and such a willingness to do well? I still have so many feelings with the car that I want to drive it as fast as I can. I don’t know what’s happening to me, because when I was 20, I thought that at 30 I might be finished. I’m 39 today and I still feel ready for service. I think it’s the best thing that could happen to me right now and I really hope to be in an F1 this year. »
