Acelerados and Rubens Barrichello made history on November 5. Brazil’s leading automotive culture channel took to the set of its traditional Volta Rápida with the Williams FW33, the Formula 1 car Rubinho raced during the 2011 Formula 1 season—the last year of his career in the sport. It features a 2.4-liter V8 engine producing over 800 horsepower, built by the British company Cosworth. In race trim, the engine revved up to 19,000 rpm. Nowadays, for safety and maintenance reasons, the limit stands at around 16,000 rpm.
The filming took place at Velocitta Circuit, where Acelerados has been shooting its main program since 2014, the Volta Rápida with Rubens Barrichello, who has tested more than 600 cars on the same track and with the same driver. During the shoot, Barrichello did timed laps on Velocitta’s two layouts: the full circuit, 3,493 meters long with 14 corners, and the traditional Volta Rápida layout, 1,680 meters long with 6 corners. And in both, he set the track record, with a time of 1:17.051 on the full circuit and 46.934 on the Volta Rápida/Acelerados layout.
The car is owned by Officina Caira, operated by LRS Formula, with track activity coordination and logistics handled by AMK Tracks & Travels. The process for the action and temporary import of the car began in April, and it arrived by plane from France to Campinas the week before the 2026 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix.
In addition to the video on Acelerados, the Williams FW33’s presence in Brazil was also part of a campaign by Ale Combustíveis and culminated in a symbolic farewell to Rubens Barrichello from Formula 1 at the Interlagos Circuit ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
