Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello (born May 23, 1972 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. Driving for the Brawn GP  team, Barrichello finished third in the 2009 championship. He is racing for WilliamsF1 in 2010.

Barrichello has scored the fifth highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from 2000 to 2005, as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable success including finishing as championship runner-up in 2002 and 2004. Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006 made Barrichello the most experienced driver on the grid, and at the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix he became the most experienced driver in F1 history. He is set to become the first driver to reach 300 Grand Prix entries and 300 starts in 2010. Assuming the season is trouble free, his 300th start will be achieved at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Both his father and paternal grandfather are also named Rubens,[1] and Barrichello shares his father's birthday: May 23. Therefore, Rubens Barrichello was known as Rubinho (Portuguese for "little Rubens"), which has become his nickname.

Barrichello won five karting titles in Brazil before going to Europe to race in the Formula Vauxhall Lotus series in 1990. In his first year, he won the championship, a feat he replicated the following year in the British Formula 3 Championship, beating David Coulthard. He very nearly joined Formula One, the highest category of single seater racing, at just 19 years of age.[citation needed] Instead he competed in Formula 3000 in 1992. He finished third in the championship, and joined the Jordan Formula One team for the 1993 Formula One season. During this time, and also early in his Formula One career, Barrichello lived in Banbury and Cumnor, Oxfordshire, UK.

As a young, aspiring driver, Barrichello looked up to the late Ayrton Senna, and when he joined Formula One, Senna in return considered him his protégé.