Look back: Saying goodbye to Rubens in 2011

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Rubens Barrichello made his final outing in Formula 1 on this day in 2011. He'd been hoping to be back the following season, but instead he got to bow out before his adoring fans at his home event, the Brazilian Grand Prix season finale at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.

Barrichello had made his F1 debut in the 1993 South African Grand Prix with the Jordan team, although his first race disappointingly ended in retirement with gearbox issues after 31 laps. After that he went on to take part in 326 Grand Prix weekends and claimed 11 wins during his time with Stewart, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn and finally Williams.

His first victory came at Hockenheim in the 2000 German Grand Prix in his first season at the Scuderia as Michael Schumacher's team mate. His final win came in Italy in 2009, but it was with Brawn GP rather than Ferrari - although the Tifosi still claimed him as one of their own for the occasion.

By the time he got to his final outing in 2011, Barrichello was the most experienced driver in Formula 1 history. He qualified in 14th place for the race but was unable to make any forward progress and ended his swan song out of the points, with victory going to Red Bull's Mark Webber.

It didn't matter to the fans, who still gave him a hero's reception as he headed off to race in sportscar events and the Brazilian stock car championship. He was also 2012 Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year.

Now aged 48, he continues to be a formidable talent on the track despite a recent health scare that sidelined him for a spell at the start of 2018, as well as being an on-screen pundit and commentator for Brazil's F1 coverage.

And while we're at it - the 2011 Brazil Grand Prix also marked the last start for another long-time F1 competitor.

Jarno Trulli made his first start in the 1997 Australian Grand Prix and memorably won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix in the course of 252 starts for the likes of Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota and Lotus.

Like Barrichello, Trulli had also been expecting to carry on in 2012 with Caterham. Instead the seat went to Vitaly Petrov at the last minute, leaving Trulli focussed on launching his own team in the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship in 2014-2015, for which he was also lead driver.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.