With the announcement that Barichello is being forced to retire from Formula 1 (assuming that he won’t pick up a seat in the next couple of weeks) it’s time to see where the perennial bridesmaid of Formula 1 could go.

One option is to follow the example of others before him and join the world of sports car racing.

To give Rubens some encouragement here are the F1 bridesmaids, flops and no hopers that have gone on to win the greatest race of them all, the 24 hours of Le Mans.

But before I unleash this rather long list on you I should explain that all drivers have won Le Mans at least once unless otherwise stated, I have only looked at the post-war results (after 1949 when Le Mans got back up and running) and I have not included any F1 champions as they were never bridesmaids!

The Bridesmaids

Jacky Inkx – Perhaps this man of all should give Rubens his greatest encouragement. After coming 2nd in the F1 World Championship twice he then went on to win Le Mans 6 times.

Lorenzo Bandini – 42 races, 1 win, 8 podium, 58 points

Ludovico Scarfiotti – 10 races, 1 win, 1 podium, 17 points

Bruce McLaren – 100 races, 4 wins, 188.5 points

Pedro Rodríguez – 54 races, 2 wins, 7 podiums 71 points

Didier Pironi – 70 races, 3 wins, 13 podiums, 101 points

Jochen Mass – 105 races, 1 win, 8 podiums, 71 points

Michele Alboreto – 194 races, 5 wins, 23 podiums, 18.5 points

Olivier Gendebien – 14 races, 18 points, 2 podiums, 4 Le Mans Wins

Maurice Trintignant – 84 races, 10 podiums, 2 wins, 72 points

José Froilán González – 26 races, 15 podiums, 2 wins, 72 points

Johnny Herbert – 161 races, 3 wins, 7 podiums, 98 points

The Flops

Paul Frère – 11 races, 11 points, 1 podium

Olivier Gendebien – 14 races, 2 podiums, 18 points

Masten Gregory – 37 races, 3 podiums, 21 points

Chris Amon – 96 races, 11 podiums, 83 points

Dan Gurney – 86 races, 4 wins, 19 podiums, 133 points (first driver to spray champagne after a race win, invented the much used, even today, Gurney-flap, and first river to use a full face helmet in F1)

Lucien Bianchi – 17 races, 1 podium, 6 points

Jackie Oliver – 50 races, 2 podiums, 13 points

Richard Attwood – 16 starts, 1 podium, 11 points

Hans Herrmann – 17 races, 1 podium, 10 points

Gijs van Lennep – 8 races, 2 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Henri Pescarolo – 57 races, 1 podium, 12 points, 4 Le Mans Wins (as team owner second in 2006, third in 2007, both years first in un-official petrol class)

Hans-Joachim Stuck – 74 races, 29 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

John Crichton-Stuart – 15 races, 3 points

Martin Brundle – 158 races, 9 podiums, 98 points

Bertrand Gachot – 47 races, 5 points

Mark Blundell – 61 races, 32 points

Stefan Johansson – 79 races, 12 podiums, 88 points

Emanuele Pirro – 37 races, 3 points, 5 Le Mans Wins

Alexander Wurz – 69 races, 3 podiums, 45 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

The No Hopers

Peter Walker – 4 race, 0 points

Fritz Riess – 1 race, 0 points

Hermann Lang – 2 races, 2 points

Duncan Hamilton – 5 races, 0 points

Tony Rolt – 3 races, 0 points

Ivor Bueb – 5 races, 0 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Ron Flockhart – 13 races 5 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Roy Salvadori – 47 races, 2 podiums, 19 points

Carroll Shelby – 8 races, 0 points

Louis Rosier – 38 races, 2 podiums, 19 points

Peter Whitehead – 10 races, 1 podium, 4 points

Marc Gené – 36 races, 5 points

David Brabham – 24 races, 0 points

Allan McNish – 16 races, 0 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Joachim Winkelhock – 7 DNQ, 0 races, 0 points

Yannick Dalmas – 24 races, 0 points, 4 Le Mans Wins

Pierluigi Martini – 119 races, 18 points

Yannick Dalmas – 24 races, 0 points, 4 Le Mans Wins

Derek Warwick – 147 races, 4 podiums, 71 points

Mauro Baldi – 36 races, 5 points

JJ Lehto – 62 starts, 1 podium, 10 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Volker Weidler – 10 DNQ, 0 races, 0 points

Nino Vaccarella – 4 races, 0 points

Helmut Marko – 9 points, 0 points (now a key string-puller at Red Bull)

Gérard Larrousse – 1 race, 0 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Derek Bell – 9 starts, 1 point, 5 Le Mans Wins

Gijs van Lennep – 8 races, 2 points, 2 Le Mans Wins

Vern Schuppan – 9 starts, 0 points

Paolo Barilla – 9 races, 0 points

Jan Lammers – 23 races, 0 points

In the interest of balance here are some real F1 heros that have done the double (and in the case of Graham Hill, the triple. F1 Champ, Le Mans and Indy 500 winner):

Mike Hawthorne

Graham Hill

Phil Hill

Jochen Rindt

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