Barrichello: Schumacher “never supportive, never there to offer help”

Barrichello was alongside Schumacher during his era of glory at Ferrari when he won five Formula 1 championships in a row.

Barrichello won nine grands prix during those years, and twice finished as runner-up in the F1 standings, but felt the wrath of the legend who was out-racing him.

“I always made friends and I’ve always had a good relationship with all my teammates,” Barrichello said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

“But he was never supportive.

“He was never there to offer help, so I never asked.

“Michael was different. He was a bit naive in the way that he worked.

“So many times, we would finish a meeting and then they would start another one with just Michael there! 

“So I took my chair and would just sit there!

“Eventually I felt that the team was his.”

Bernie Ecclestone made claims that Barrichello’s Ferrari contract included clause stating he was not allowed to race his teammate.

But he now says to F1.com that he told Ferrari that he wouldn’t sign if he had to "let Michael go ahead".

“I didn’t want to sign. My contract said nothing about that.

"For my benefit, I accepted so many things. There were many things I did not accept, but some I did because I saw I was growing there.

"For six years I saw I was going forward and my time was coming.”

Ultimately Barrichello played a role in one of F1’s greatest-ever eras.

“I always say he was better than me, no doubt,” he said about Schumacher.

“But because he was already there from ’96, he had four years, he had gone through the injury, and obviously Jean Todt considered him like a son. 

“So it was tough for someone new to come in and say ‘ok give me the freedom'.”