Former Ferrari star Rubens Barrichello joked that he was “ready” to come out of retirement and be Fernando Alonso’s teammate at Aston Martin.
Barrichello remains one of the most recognisable names in modern F1, having claimed 11 wins in an 18-year career between 1993 and 2011.
The Brazilian is best known for his time as Michael Schumacher’s team-mate at Ferrari, with Barrichello also partnering Jenson Button during Brawn GP’s historic title-winning season in 2009.
Barrichello never formally announced his retirement from F1 upon his departure from Williams at the close of the 2011 season, with the 52-year-old still competing this year in the Brazil-based Stock Car Pro Series.
In short, he referred to a surprise return to F1 at the end of 2014 with the beleaguered Caterham team, and the deal was cancelled after the team went into administration.
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Alonso’s current teammate Lance Stroll has been divisive since his F1 debut as a teenager in 2017, with the 26-year-old’s billionaire father, Lawrence Stroll, at the helm of the Aston Martin team.
Stroll recently came under fire for a mistake at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where he got caught in the gravel trap while trying to avoid a fall on the formation lap.
The Canadian was subjected to brutal boos from the crowd at Interlagos, with enthusiasts heard chanting the call from Aston Martin’s Brazilian reserve driver Felipe Drugovich as Stroll’s day went from bad to worse.
Stroll’s preference and motivation to succeed in F1 has been questioned throughout his career, with wild rumors last year suggesting he was contemplating leaving motorsport entirely to pursue a professional career in tennis.
Guenther Steiner, the former Haas team principal, recently claimed that Stroll “doesn’t want to be” an F1 driver and is only on the grid to satisfy the ambitions of his father.
Steiner has in the past criticised Stroll for being “non-existent” alongside Alonso in F1 2024, with the Canadian trailing his teammate by 38 points in the drivers’ standings.
Despite a troubled F1 2024 season, Aston Martin have been widely tipped to emerge as title contenders in the years to come, having lured F1 design guru Adrian Newey from Red Bull earlier this year.
Newey stands as the most decorated individual in F1 history, with more than 200 race wins and a combined total of 26 Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles to his name, with Max Verstappen’s F1 2024 triumph the latest to involve the 65-year-old.
Newey’s arrival has raised new hopes that Alonso can finally secure a third name in the world championship when the new regulations are introduced in F1 2026, two decades after the last of his two names with Renault.
And in a recent appearance on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast, Barrichello joked that he would be “ready” to return to F1 if Alonso sought him out to become his teammate.
He said: “If he comes to me now and says ‘I need you to be my team-mate at Aston’, I’ll be ready!
Barrichello paid tribute to Alonso’s love of racing after the 43-year-old recorded his 400th F1 appearance in Brazil, adding: “What I like about Alonso is the fact that you look him in the eye and he still loves it.
“That’s what I tell my kids: ‘They’re having problems and they’re going to have bigger problems, but it depends on what’s here [in the heart].
“If you like him, or if you see that you love him, you solve each and every challenge you can. So if you like it and stay fit, [you’ll make it]. “
Noting that Alonso hurts to lose, Barrichello revealed his pleasure at partnering with the two-time world champion in a virtual race at Le Mans.
He said: “I saw that when he called me three years ago and said: ‘I want you to be my team-mate at the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans.’
“There is no one more competitive than me, because there was a time when I was at home with my son Fernando and he came and said: ‘Dad, lunch is ready. ‘
“I said, ‘Okay, I’ll have a minute. ‘
“The next time, he came in and said, ‘Dad, dinner is ready. ’ I didn’t take out my SIM card because [I invested] there.
“Fernando the same. I arrived early in the morning and he was already there, so I can definitely tell that he is passionate.
“Unfortunately, he was driving and he had a little twist of fate and we were pretty much unaware that you had to press a request button to enter the pit lane.
“You had to press a button to get tires and fuel, and he had tires.
“And because the track is 20 kilometres long, after eight minutes of the race we run out of fuel.
“We kept telling the big guns, saying: ‘Look, you’re never going to have Alonso and Barrichello again, please let us go back in.’
“They allowed us to come back five laps later, but we still finished the race. We were competitive, it was a shame that we had [the problem].
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