It maybe a little (or too) late...but finally Rubens came out of the shadows and delivered a very good season (hope he can keep the second place). He is more mature, less emotional and, if cosworth delivers, he may have a strong season at Williams where he will have number 1 status. I'm cheering for him... hope he can retire in a good standing and prove that "good guys" can suceed (as Jenson proved). By the way, I think that most of what he did this season was because he was in a team where politics weren't that established yet and because he had in Button a nice guy to work with...

Congratulations Brawn, Jenson and Rubens, hope you all keep up the fantastic work next year even in different teams.

Its impressive that after all these years (what is it 17 years in F1??) he's still got the speed and ability to put up a good fight for the championship. For a minute yesterday I thought there may be a chance for him to overhaul Button in the points. Ive always been critical of Rubens but he did well this season and Williams should provide a good home for him next year

when do you think he will learn not to whinge and blame the team though? I think that was his downfall this year - when JB was beating him, yes, he lifted his game, but he also whinged way too much and blamed the team.

Not discussing what he says, many others do the same, but the quality of his driving and his skills....

Yeah he did a good job.

I hope he has a good season at Williams.

not only has he come out of the shadows, he actually overshadows the newly crowned WDC in the second half of the season
TBH, I don't think he's driving better now than his Ferrari years, he's just got a weaker teammate, that's all.

Yes, it was impressive. I hope it stops a little bit the trend of early retirement. Schumacher should still be around, for instance, and others. What's next M. Weber should retire? I remember Emmerson duelling with Mansell in Indycar in the 90's he had what, 45/50? Mansell was the F1 champ, and they did great. Jacques Laffite raced until mid 40s...Those long standing names give substance and a certain aura to the sport, IMHO.

I know people here were crying for the likes of Rubens to retire and make way for the young guns. Just check 2007/2008 threads on Rubens. These guys can be fast, they just don't have the car.

Personally, I don't favor the young guys at all. If the old guys still have the speed, they should keep going. Good and fast young guns should stay and value the lower formulas more (so should we). If the next two GP2 champs can't get a spot (unlikely with the new teams, but I'm hypothesizing), tough luck.

Rubens is signed to Williams for two seasons, then Brazil's Stock Car.

Rubens told today at GLOBO(brazilian Tv) that he had only signed for four races with Brawn, just before the 2009 season. The contract stated that at the fifth race, if another driver showed up with sponsor(money) Rubens would have to leave. Also, he was only going to get paid by points, but only up to 25pts, no more than that. Rubens scored far more than 25pts, won races, fought for the championship and out-shoned Button in the second half of the season. Rubens now, might have the option to stay at Brawn( I hope not) or move to Williams(I hope so). I really want to see Rubens at Williams, they will definitely support him, and offer him great resources in order for him to develop the car. At the age of 37, racing at this level, fighting for victories, Rubens deserves the respect from all F1 fans, his without a doubt, part of the very best in F1 history.

You think Brawn didn't support Rubens? They had nothing, nothing except the car and the facilities. No sponsors, no money, nothing. The only reason they really showed up was because the old Concorde Agreement required a minimum grid of twenty cars; if Super Aguri had survived into 2009, I'm pretty sure Honda wouldn't have bothered selling the team and simply bowed out. Yes, Rubens got the short end of the stick ... but it was a measure of just how desperate the team was at the begining of the year; Ross Brawn literally had to count his pennies. If Rubens were to stay with Brawn for 2010, they'll be able to offer him a hell of a lot more. They've got sponsors lined up for next season, they're said to be getting backing from Mercedes. They'll get a much bigger slice of the pie that is television rights. They won't have so much that they'll be competing with the Ferraris and McLarens and Red Bulls of this world, but they'll have a decent budget and be able to have a far more serious effort (though that begs the question ... if 2009 is not serious, hat is?).

Bull, they had a budget given to them by Honda, they had Virgin money and several other sponsors throughout the season. They most certainly did not have "nothing".

They had nothing compared to the other teams; Richard Branson was supposedly paying them $250,000 per race. That's just a million dollars, which, I might add, is about half a percent of the proposed budget cap. If Brawn could afford to pay Barichello on a standard driver's salary, don't you think they would have? It's a measure of how desperate they were that they had to resort to the terms that they did

Well, if that is true, it's appalling. Rubens he really wanted to get going. The guy is a racer (despite all the complaining) at heart.

Yes. Button, got what, half of his previous salary?

How is it appalling? They paid him as much as they could afford to. It's not like Ross Brawn was sitting on a mountain of money like Scrooge McDuck while shelling out pennies to Brrichello.


Barrichello was signed at the last moment; remember, it was heavily suggested that Bruno Senna would take his place. But then they elected to go with Barrichello, yet had already spent a lot of money. It was clearly the best offer they could make.

I see Rubens as a much more likely convert to Indycar when he's done in F1.