Why is Rubens Barricellos 257th GP so special??

Question

Is it the most ever?

Answer 1

The team congratulated him on 257 starts, and his site says the same,, which means he has taken part in more Grands Prix than any other driver in the history of Formula 1.   He has been racing in Formula 1 for 15 years!   Mind you, he is not the oldes Formula 1 Driver - that was Juan Fangio, who was 47 when he retired - Barichello is a 'mere' 34!

Answer 2

It is a huge accomplishment...

Answer 3

If today had been his 257th GP, then he would have overtaken Riccardo Patrese as the driver to have started the most races.

However I make it 255 starts (from 258 races) today...in 2002 he failed to start twice after electrical problems on the formation lap, and therefore they shouldn't count as starts (the other race he didn't qualify for was the 1994 San Marino GP, when he crashed in free practice and was unable to race). He will actually equal the record in Monaco, and pass it in Canada.

EDIT btw creambunmum, the oldest driver ever to race in a world championship GP was Louis Chiron...he finished 6th at Monaco in 1955 at the age of 55 years, 9 months and 19 days! Fangio was, however, the oldest ever world champion at 46 years, 1 month and 11 days in 1957.

Answer 4

he is the most successful f1 driver in terms of number of starts

Answer 5

It means he's been able to drive competitively and keep his seat in F1  longer than anyone else has ever managed in the past.

In this respect, the fact that he didn't actually take two starts during that time because of his accident isn't very important, to me at least.

Answer 6

Because that means he is the F1 driver with most starts. He surpasses the record held by Ricardo Patrese (256). But there are doubts as to which GP really is Rubens' 257th start. Some say it's this week at Turkey, some say it's not