Just weeks before the season opener in Melbourne, team manager Ross Brawn purchased the Honda team, renaming it Brawn GP and removing the threat of possible closure.
Barrichello was the subject of persistent rumours suggesting he would lose his seat to the young Bruno Senna, nephew of his friend, idol and mentor Ayrton Senna.
Ultimately Brawn elected to retain Barrichello to partner Jenson Button in 2009.
At Barcelona during the final pre-season test, both Barrichello and Button surprised the paddock with extremely competitive lap times, outperforming others by as much as two seconds, and foreshadowing the performance the team would show in the early races.

In Melbourne, Barrichello topped the timesheets in the first two elements of qualifying, but qualified second on the grid behind teammate Button.
Despite a poor start caused by his engine slipping into anti-stall, he did well to recover and lost only a couple of positions at the start.
However, he sustained damage to the front wing and rear diffuser in the first corner incident when he was bumped from behind by Heikki Kovalainen in his McLaren that saw him hit Mark Webber in the Red Bull damaging Webber's car as well as his hopes of a good finish.
Despite this, Barrichello ultimately finished the race in second place after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided with just 2 laps remaining.
He started eighth in Malaysia after getting a grid penalty for a gearbox change and finished the race in fifth place after the race was abandoned at Sepang due to heavy rain.

At Shanghai, he outpaced Button in qualifying, but struggled with his car's brakes when one of them stopped working in the first stint and finished in fourth, recording the race's fastest lap.
In Bahrain, his front wing adjustor failed during his qualifying run thereby compromising his aggressive 3 pit-stop race strategy, and thus managed only fifth place.
He qualified third on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix, but overtook Button and second place man Vettel on the first straight, to lead the race in the first corner.
He was unable to capitalise on his three stop strategy as a result of a lack of pace caused by massive amounts of understeer on his third set of tyres in his third stint, finishing behind Button, who changed to a 2 stop strategy during the race.

At Monaco, Barrichello was pipped for pole by a late-charging Button and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen.
A good start saw him leapfrog the Finn into Sainte Devote.
Barrichello's supersoft tyres did not last as well as Button's in the first stint and he pitted earlier than planned, and Button took a commanding lead.
The top three remained unchanged for the duration of the race, save some reshuffling during the pit stop windows.
At the completion of lap 47, Barrichello became the driver who has completed most laps in Formula One history, surpassing Michael Schumacher's total of 13,909 laps.
In Turkey, he again had gearbox problems and retired for the first time in the season, leaving Button to increase his points advantage, while in Britain, Barrichello qualified second behind Vettel, before beating Button for the first time in 2009 en route to third place.

In Germany, Barrichello took the lead at the first corner but after his first stop, he came out behind Felipe Massa who held him up.
A fuel rig problem during his second stop meant that he finished the race in sixth, a place behind teammate Jenson Button.
After the race he publicly blamed Brawn GP saying "It was a good show from the team in how to lose a race" and "They made me lose the race".
Team principal Ross Brawn said of the incident "He had the 11th fastest time of the race.
You can't win a race with that speed".
However he refused to criticize Barrichello for his outburst.
Barrichello has since admitted he overreacted, and he would not have won as the Red Bull cars were half a second a lap quicker than him.

In Hungary, the Brawn cars struggled and lacked pace because of problems with the tyres and aerodynamics.
Barrichello finished 10th, his first finish outside the points in 2009, and three plac
Just weeks before the season opener in Melbourne, team manager Ross Brawn purchased the Honda team, renaming it Brawn GP and removing the threat of possible closure. Barrichello was the subject of persistent rumours suggesting he would lose his seat to the young Bruno Senna, nephew of his friend, idol and mentor Ayrton Senna. Ultimately Brawn elected to retain Barrichello to partner Jenson Button in 2009. At Barcelona during the final pre-season test, both Barrichello and Button surprised the paddock with extremely competitive lap times, outperforming others by as much as two seconds, and foreshadowing the performance the team would show in the early races.
In Melbourne, Barrichello topped the timesheets in the first two elements of qualifying, but qualified second on the grid behind teammate Button. Despite a poor start caused by his engine slipping into anti-stall, he did well to recover and lost only a couple of positions at the start. However, he sustained damage to the front wing and rear diffuser in the first corner incident when he was bumped from behind by Heikki Kovalainen in his McLaren that saw him hit Mark Webber in the Red Bull damaging Webber's car as well as his hopes of a good finish. Despite this, Barrichello ultimately finished the race in second place after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided with just 2 laps remaining. He started eighth in Malaysia after getting a grid penalty for a gearbox change and finished the race in fifth place after the race was abandoned at Sepang due to heavy rain.
At Shanghai, he outpaced Button in qualifying, but struggled with his car's brakes when one of them stopped working in the first stint and finished in fourth, recording the race's fastest lap. In Bahrain, his front wing adjustor failed during his qualifying run thereby compromising his aggressive 3 pit-stop race strategy, and thus managed only fifth place. He qualified third on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix, but overtook Button and second place man Vettel on the first straight, to lead the race in the first corner. He was unable to capitalise on his three stop strategy as a result of a lack of pace caused by massive amounts of understeer on his third set of tyres in his third stint, finishing behind Button, who changed to a 2 stop strategy during the race.
At Monaco, Barrichello was pipped for pole by a late-charging Button and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen. A good start saw him leapfrog the Finn into Sainte Devote. Barrichello's supersoft tyres did not last as well as Button's in the first stint and he pitted earlier than planned, and Button took a commanding lead. The top three remained unchanged for the duration of the race, save some reshuffling during the pit stop windows. At the completion of lap 47, Barrichello became the driver who has completed most laps in Formula One history, surpassing Michael Schumacher's total of 13,909 laps. In Turkey, he again had gearbox problems and retired for the first time in the season, leaving Button to increase his points advantage, while in Britain, Barrichello qualified second behind Vettel, before beating Button for the first time in 2009 en route to third place.
In Germany, Barrichello took the lead at the first corner but after his first stop, he came out behind Felipe Massa who held him up. A fuel rig problem during his second stop meant that he finished the race in sixth, a place behind teammate Jenson Button. After the race he publicly blamed Brawn GP saying "It was a good show from the team in how to lose a race" and "They made me lose the race". Team principal Ross Brawn said of the incident "He had the 11th fastest time of the race. You can't win a race with that speed". However he refused to criticize Barrichello for his outburst. Barrichello has since admitted he overreacted, and he would not have won as the Red Bull cars were half a second a lap quicker than him.
In Hungary, the Brawn cars struggled and lacked pace because of problems with the tyres and aerodynamics. Barrichello finished 10th, his first finish outside the points in 2009, and three plac
Rubens Barrichello