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Barrichello Will Not Start His 300th F1 Race at Spa-Francorchamps

Rubens Barrichello will celebrate his 300th Grand Prix this weekend, at Spa-Francorchamps, an occasion for which he has fully prepared. In order to celebrate this impressive milestone in his career and also in the history of the sport, the 38-year old Brazilian driver will wear a special helmet (livery wise) and t-shirt.

However, according to a recent report from statistical authority Jacques Deschenaux's gpguide.com website, it seems the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix will not mark the 300th race contested by the Brazilian driver, but the 296th. And that's because, throughout his 18-year career in Formula One, Barrichello failed to start 4 races due to several reasons.

For starters, in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix – which could have almost tragically ended not only his career, but also his life – he only got to do a few laps in the Friday practice session, before being involved in a massive crash. Needless to say, he did not start the Sunday race.

Additionally, in the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, when David Coulthard lost control of his McLaren and caused a huge accident at the start – no less than 13 cars were involved in the pile-up – Rubens Barrichello was unable to restart the race due to the injuries he had sustained minutes earlier.

Then, in 2002, during the Spanish and French Grands Prix, technical problems with his Ferrari prevented Barrichello from making it past the formation lap.

Consequently, a more accurate statistics would show that this year's Belgian Grand Prix will indeed be the 300th Grand Prix event started by the Brazilian veteran, but not his 300th contested race. According to the numbers, and if everything goes according to plan, Barrichello is to make his 300th start in the series at the Japanese GP, scheduled in October 8-10.
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