Barrichello is still fifth in the drivers’ standings, 20 points behind Ferrari team-mate Schumacher who grabbed fourth place at Silverstone after dropping to 15th amid the chaotic scenes in the pit-lane caused by a foolhardy track interloper which saw the safety car deployed.

But the five-time champion saw runner-up Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams-BMW and third-placed Kimi Raikkonen both eat into his points advantage.

Raikkonen is seven points adrift with five races left, though the Finn could rue the two points he lost when overtaken by Montoya, who is now 14 points adrift, with team-mate Ralf Schumacher the only man to lose ground after his two-race winning streak was ended with ninth place.

“If I say I am looking good for the championship people are going to start saying ’Oh Rubens wants to beat Michael’ and I don’t want that to happen,” said Barrichello, who shed tears of joy after his first win since last September.

“I just want to enjoy this win. I am very proud of myself, to be honest, and proud of what the team have been done because the last two races have been difficult.

“People have been saying things after I spun in Canada and France but I am a tryer. When I am driving I am not thinking of anything but when I am on the podium everyone comes to my mind, my family and my father who sold his car for me to go racing.”

Raikkonen is still scenting becoming the youngest world champion in history, the McLaren driver declaring: “The most important thing is that we managed to close the gap by one point. Later in the season the one point more we scored today might prove crucial.”

And Montoya believes he is still well in the hunt, saying: “My championship chances are better. If I win the next race and Michael doesn’t finish I am four points behind. But if its the reverse, I will be 24 points behind him.”

Schumacher will have home advantage in Hockenheim on Sunday week but his bid for a record sixth crown looks set to go right down to the wire in Japan in October.

“Fourth is not bad considering what happened and my lead over Kimi has only been reduced by one point,” said the 34-year-old.

There were plenty of thrills outside of the championship contest, with David Coulthard pulling off a fine overtaking move on Renault’s Jarno Trulli to grab fifth despite an unscheduled pit-stop when his head restraint fixings broke.

Toyota’s Cristiano da Matta was seventh having led an F1 race for the first time after the flurry of pit-stops induced by the safety car being deployed following the track protester’s dramatic if life-threatening emergence on Hangar Straight.

Jenson Button wore a smile just as big as Barrichello’s after grabbing eighth place despite starting last for BAR while rookies Ralph Firman (Jordan) and Justin Wilson (Minardi) were 13th and 16th respectively.

“It was one of the best performances of my career,” said Button. “It was always going to be hard from the back but I don’t think we could have done any better than that.

“I had nothing to lose so I went for it from the start. I made up five places on the first lap so I knew I had a car I could fight with.”