43-year-old Rubens Barrichello isn’t just a Formula 1 driver, he’s the Brazilian who holds the record for most races in the king motorsport (322), having scored 658 points throughout his career. But being one of the best racing drivers there has ever been also implies living on the edge of life, literally and metaphorically.
One of Rubens’ biggest crashes is the one he had at the Imola circuit a day before Roland Ratzenberger died after failing to negotiate the Villeneuve Curva in his Simtek Ford car. A day after the Austrian racing driver’s fatal crash, Ayrton Senna crashed violently on the outside of the Tamburello corner. Senna was pronounced dead at the Maggiore Hospital later that Sunday. Therefore, the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix is remembered as the darkest weekend in Formula 1.
When Senna’s body was flown back to Brazil, three million people flocked to the streets of Sao Paulo to offer the dearly missed racing driver their salute. One of the men who attended the funeral of Ayrton Senna is Rubens Barrichello. As you can see from the video capture above, he was one of the pallbearers for Senna.
On the left you have Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain Prost, Christian Fittipaldi, Jackie Stewart, Roberto Moreno, Johnny Herbert, and Wilson Fittipaldi. On the right, there is Gerhard Berger, Rubens Barrichello, Thierry Boutsen, Raul Boesel, Michele Alboreto, Pedro Lamy, and Damon Hill. At the rear, Derek Warwick. Care to guess which one of these racing drivers doesn’t remember being Senna’s pallbearer?
Yes, that would be Rubinho. Speaking to Fox Sports Brazil, Barrichello had the following to declare: “I do not remember my crash at Imola... I came back to Sao Paulo, Ayrton Senna had died - and even the Lord was good to me because I had a certain amnesia. For a month, I forgot many things. I don’t remember carrying Ayrton’s coffin. I do not remember. I see the photographs, but I don't remember.”
Instead of a wishy-washy conclusion, I’ll end this story with Rubens' own words: “When I first came round in the medical center after my accident, the first face I saw was Ayrton's, with tears in his eyes. I had never seen that with Ayrton before. I just had the impression that he felt as if my accident was like one of his own. He helped me a lot with my career and I can't find the words to describe his loss.”
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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