Rubens Barrichello says he’s still willing to wait for news from Williams about a possible contract extension into next season.
Despite the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil being linked to his seat Barrichello remains optimistic, and is refusing to concede that the Brazilian GP might be his last.
“I’m just waiting for people to call,” said the Brazilian today. “The only thing I have in mind is the year that I’m going to have ahead. I’m thinking like I did in 2008, just positive. I might go to the Brazilian GP without any confirmation or without anything, but I’m not saying goodbye to my fans. I want to be there next year.
“I just have to wait and see. The team have myself very motivated and just waiting for an answer. If God wishes, I will be on the grid for my 20th year.”
Barrichello admitted that he was talking to teams up and down the paddock.
“I talked to all of them, to be honest. There’s no point in telling you who I’m talking to. It’s just nice situation to be in, to be talking to competitive teams. If I was on my first or second year I would be very worried, but it’s been such a long time… Life is too good to be moaning about the problems and why they haven’t signed me just yet. I’m just concentrating on the positive, really.”
Asked if he thought Kimi Raikkonen really wanted to come back, Rubens said: “I don’t know. To be honest I never talked to Kimi when he was racing, and he never talked to me! I believe that he had very little talks with the team, by any means.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Goodbye Rubens. You’ve had your time and your opportunities.
I’ve been following williams from the beginning. i’ve seen plenty of good drivers dumped over the years. i’ve never respected williams for that. they remind me of how ferrari treated drivers in the old days. what comes around goes around. williams are only a shadow of their former selves. its interesting that teams like mclaren who do a better job with its management of drivers have gone on to bigger and better things.
I’d be inclined to agree with what Chris said. Frank Williams has made some really odd decisions about drivers in the past, such as when Damon Hill was binned in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen (whom i respect trememdously, but his form before and during his Williams stint was nothing special). I think Rubinho has taken a knock from working alongside Maldonado this year, who has been disappointing compared to Nico Hulkenberg last year. In my opinion, the combination of Barrichello and Hulkenberg was one of the most constructive on the grid last year, very closely matched and each pushing the other to achieve without any public air of animosity. It must have been poor for team morale to break up a driver pairing like that and take on a pay driver instead.