British Grand Prix

By Andrew Benson
BBC Sport at Silverstone

Brazilian Barrichello drove brilliantly at Silverstone

Rubens Barrichello said he was determined to race on in Formula One after scoring his first podium for three years at the British Grand Prix.

The 36-year-old is the most experienced driver in F1 history, and has faced inevitable speculation that his time in the sport could be coming to an end.

"I've no intentions of stopping. I'll only stop if I've nowhere else to go," said Barrichello, who finished third.

"I just love the sport and the speed. I cannot live without that."

Barrichello said he wanted to continue with Honda, who he joined in 2006 after asking for a release from his Ferrari contract.

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Honda are reported to be interested in signing double world champion Fernando Alonso to partner current driver Jenson Button for next season.

Barrichello added: "My intention is to stay with Honda. I have no contract. The day I feel I am slower than my first race, I will stop, but for now I feel I am faster."

Barrichello's result at Silverstone was an unexpected bonus for the veteran, whose F1 career began with Jordan in 1993.

Honda's car is not competitive and Barrichello and Button qualified only 16th and 17th for the race.

But Barrichello is a renowned expert in wet conditions, and his mid-race decision to fit "extreme" wet weather tyres when the rain started to fall harder paid dividends.

"There was a moment when I almost hit the wall at Club that I decided on the extreme," he said, "because I thought it might be only five laps but in those five laps you can make 10 seconds on people and that's what happened, isn't it?

I've never lost the belief that I have in me this speed and everything Rubens Barrichello

"It was the right decision, it was just magic. I was passing people inside and outside."

Barrichello struggled in his first season with Honda, rarely matching Button for pace, although the two have been more even in the last two years, and Barrichello is probably shading the intra-team fight this season.

"I've never lost the belief that I have in me this speed and everything," he said.

"Obviously it was a lucky day with the weather and so on. But the team knows, maybe not the outside, that I have this great feeling, it's like I'm young, like I'm smiling to the problems.

"[Team boss] Ross [Brawn, with whom Barrichello worked at Ferrari] knows I have the speed and I want to keep on racing."

He predicted that Honda would only get stronger now Brawn had joined - this is the Englishman's first season in charge and he says Honda should be judged on their performance next season.

"The team has fantastic mechanics and engineers," Barrichello said. "The whole policy of the team is good, but they needed a technical leader, and then when Ross came everything calmed down a bit and now everything is nice."