While former F1 rivals Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were being fitted for the latest Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo was doing likewise at Toro Rosso, Rubens Barrichello was wasting no time in getting acquainted with a new seat of his own.

With no realistic option of a twentieth season in the top flight, the Brazilian veteran has taken up the offer of a run in compatriot Tony Kanaan's KV Racing IndyCar, and was caught being fitted for his seat earlier today (Thursday), as shown in the photograph (left) taken from the series regular's Twitter feed.

Reports suggest that Barrichello, who has already said that he will not be tempted to sample the IndyCar series' notorious ovals, is likely to get his first run in Kanaan's Dallara DW12 during pre-season testing at Sebring next Monday and Tuesday. Kanaan's invitation to Barrichello, complete with a picture of the car and the comment 'It's ready for you my friend - come on in!', followed a similar, off the cuff, call from reigning champion Dario Franchitti, who was first to respond to Barrichello missing out on the second Williams F1 seat to Bruno Senna.

With separate road and oval championships built in to the overall IndyCar set-up, it is possible that Barrichello could decide to contest the former, bringing his extensive F1 knowledge to bear on an all-new car that will not give his potential rivals too much of a head-start. However, it remains to be seen how serious the Sebring run-out becomes, for the Brazilian has also talked of taking a year out to spend with a growing family that has had to contend with him traversing the globe for 19 years.

Should he not decide to race, Barrichello has been mentioned in connection with possible media roles.

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