"THERE WAS A SPIRITUAL LINK BETWEEN AYRTON AND ME. SOMETHING THAT SOMEHOW DREW US TOGETHER"

Fresh from winning another title (at 53!) this son of Interlagos recalls Grandma's trackside house, nights out with Schuey and dealing with Senna's death

- Matt Bishop meets: Rubens Barrichello

Where do you begin when you are interviewing a man who has started 322 Formula 1 grands prix, who has won 11 of them, who has stood on 68 F1 grand prix podiums, who has bagged 14 F1 grand prix pole positions, who has driven 17 F1 grand prix fastest laps - much of that magnum opus compiled in Ferraris - yet who, even now, is still racing and indeed still winning? That's right: in August of this year, at the wheel of a Ford Mustang, 53-year-old Rubens Barrichello won the NASCAR Brazil championship, and, more remarkable still, he did so at his first attempt.

Although he retired from F1 in 2011, he has never stopped racing. In 2012 he dipped a toe into IndyCar - briefly - then he embarked on a career in Brazilian Stock Car Pro, which championship he has won twice, in 2014 and 2022, and in which series he continues to race to this day. So where do you start when your interviewee has done so much, so well, over such a long time? There is only one answer: at the beginning. “What are your earliest memories of motor sport?” I venture.

“I lived the first 20 years of my life in Interlagos,” he says, smiling via video call from a visibly comfy house, which is in a significantly posher suburb of São Paulo than Interlagos. “I was born in Interlagos - and I think that if you live in Interlagos the chances are that you’re probably going to race a car, or at least a go-kart, at some point. But, before I ever did that, I used to ride my bicycle to my grandma's place, and she lived right beside the circuit. Her house had the best view you could get, right between Turns 1 and 2 of the old Interlagos.