Rubens Barrichello just goes on and on. Already the record-holder for the most Formula One grands prix started by a driver, with 285, he will become next year the sport’s longest-serving driver in terms of consecutive seasons when he begins his eighteenth year, this time with Williams.

The team run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head, who are based in Grove, Oxfordshire, and have been in the doldrums for at least five years, confirmed yesterday that they had signed the 37-year-old. The Brazilian won two races for Brawn GP this season on his way to third place in the World Championship.

Barrichello, who surprised some with his electric qualifying pace in the second half of the season and the challenge he mounted to Jenson Button, his team-mate and the eventual champion, will drive alongside Nico Hulkenberg, the highly rated young German. The winner of the GP2 series this year, Hulkenberg is considered a potential future champion who will be able to learn from Barrichello.

Button is still likely to agree terms with Brawn for 2010 in the next 12 days. He is in China at present for the Race of Champions and is expected to drive next year alongside Nico Rosberg, who has announced that he will not be continuing with Williams next year. The future for Rosberg’s former team-mate at Williams, Kazuki Nakajima, is unclear.

With the dust and sand settling over the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there has been considerable debate about the merits of the world’s most expensive race track, with some unflattering comments on the internet about the type of race it produced from fans who thought Sunday’s offering was boring.

Given that the circuit is estimated to have cost up to £800 million to build, it is difficult to imagine that it will ever turn a profit, whether it produces exciting racing or not. But Richard Cregan, the circuit’s chief executive, was quoted yesterday as saying that he is under pressure to do just that. “What’s expected is we make money, we make this place pay,” Cregan said.

Referring to Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak, the chairman of Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management, which developed the circuit, he said: “So far, he’s been pleased. We’ve invested a lot of time and effort into making this a good circuit and we want to maintain that, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The BBC, meanwhile, issued an apology to viewers after Button was caught using a swearword on camera during a chat with Mark Webber, who had finished second to Button’s third, in Abu Dhabi. The Englishman was not aware that his remarks were being broadcast. “It was a live broadcast and, in the heat of the moment, Jenson Button swore,” a BBC spokesman said.