F1 News
Rubens attributes longevity to 'enthusiasm'
Rubens Barrichello, upon the confirmation of his Williams deal for next season, says it's "experience and enthusiasm" that has kept him in F1 for so many years.
Barrichello, the most experienced driver ever to have raced in Formula One with his 284 grand prix starts, will spend at least one more season in the sport as he bids to become the first Williams driver to win a race since 2004.
However, it wasn't that long ago that Barrichello was looking at retirement with speculation rife at the beginning of this year that he was going to lose his race-seat to Bruno Senna.
The move, though, didn't materialise as Ross Brawn opted for experience over youth and it's that experience, together with his enthusiasm for F1, that Barrichello believes is the reason why Williams have decided to sign him.
"The most important thing is what you think of yourself," he told Autosport. "I've always paid attention more to that.
"When we talked in December, people did write us off because we had a bad car. People always say you are only as good as your last race, and in the last race we looked crap at the end of last season and that was it.
"I knew that I had to keep in shape, I knew that I had a lot of speed in myself, and more than anything, I was selling to the team not just the experience, because the experience comes gratis, it is my enthusiasm. That is what pulled me up this season.
"I had to overcome all the six wins of Jenson, which was more difficult than actually waiting for the four months without a car, and when we finally found the problem with the brake balance and so on, we finally did it very well."
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