Big Schu to Fill: Ferrari's Luca Badoer hasn't raced in ten years, never scored a point
With Michael Schumacher now confirmed to have canceled his comeback due to a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle accident, Ferrari has been left with no choice but to put one of its veteran test drivers into Felipe Massa's seat until the injured Brazilian is ready to return to active duty. The trouble is that while other teams use the test driver position to groom up-and-coming drivers for the race seat, Ferrari's approach has been to use older, more experienced drivers past their prime.
Rather than give the seat to Marc Gené, who continues to race actively for Peugeot at Le Mans and last raced in a grand prix in 2004, Ferrari has decided to award the seat to Luca Badoer, its senior test driver. While testing the Ferrari California last summer, we had a chance to talk with Badoer on his way to the season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix and found him to be a good-natured and affable individual. Still, while his development skills are unrivaled, his actual Formula One race experience leaves something to be desired.
It's been ten years since Badoer last started a race – the longest gap in F1 history – and he rejoins the field as the oldest driver on the grid, narrowly eclipsing his former team-mate Rubens Barrichello at 38. Although he moved to F1 after winning the Formula 3000 title in 1992, in his four seasons and 48 grands prix in the big league (all with Italian teams, incidentally), he failed to score a single point (let alone a race win) and famously broke down in tears alongside his car after it failed to take him to a fourth-place finish at the 1999 European Grand Prix. Ten years later, he's looking to improve his record, and we'll be watching to see how he does. Follow the jump for the official press release.
[Source: Ferrari]
PRESS RELEASE:
Maranello, 11th August 2009 - With Michael Schumacher now being unavailable to stand in for Felipe Massa, as from the forthcoming European Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro announces that car number 3 will be driven by Luca Badoer.
"I am very unhappy that a problem means that Michael cannot return to racing," commented Luca di Montezemolo. "In the past few days, I could appreciate his great efforts and extraordinary motivation which had spread through the team and fans around the world. No doubt his return would have been good for Formula 1 and I am sure it would have seen him fighting for wins again. In the name of Ferrari and all the fans, I wish to thank him for the strong attachment he displayed for the team in these circumstances. In agreement with Stefano Domenicali, we have therefore decided to give Luca Badoer the chance to race for the Scuderia after he has put in so many years of hard work as a test driver."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MajorGeek 10:15AM (8/12/2009)
More importantly, how will he get the Armor All stains off his pants? I'm just saying....
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wtfJeeper 11:07AM (8/12/2009)
LMAO! Was thinking the same thing...
Mainomega 10:17AM (8/12/2009)
Seriously... Gene should race at Valencia.
Even if he is racing that weekend I'm sure he'll withdraw for a chance to drive in F1 again.
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Brad 10:49AM (8/12/2009)
Even before Michael was announced to fill in, I thought Gene would have been the obvious choice due to the fact that he does have Grand Prix experience at least more recently.
J.Crew 10:16AM (8/12/2009)
Good on him for getting one last chance. It is a great story and I hope he gets a point of two just to wash the past away.
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Mike7 10:23AM (8/12/2009)
"he failed to score a single point (let alone a race win)"
I may not know all the rules of F1 (who does?), but doesn't that go without saying?
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therodee 12:14PM (8/14/2009)
This is like something out of a movie
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EU_reader 10:30AM (8/12/2009)
Schumacher is going to beat himself over the head for desperately still having wanted to race, but then with motorcycles, after retiring from F1...
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Stanton 10:32AM (8/12/2009)
Vodafone? Geez, how old is that picture?
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Commander Cool 10:43AM (8/12/2009)
or Marlboro for that matter...
pengouin85 10:54AM (8/12/2009)
Marlboro still sponsors Ferrari you twit
bitterspeak 11:26AM (8/12/2009)
Although Marlboro is still finishing their sponsorship contract with Ferrari, they don't flagrantly advertise like that in the picture.
That picture is probably circa 2005.
Kumar 10:50AM (8/12/2009)
Just call up Jeff Gordon....didn't he drive Schumaker's ride before? He'd probably jump at the chance to even finish last in an F1 race to mix things up a bit. ;)
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bitterspeak 11:28AM (8/12/2009)
He drove Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams BMW.
adrenalnjunky 11:29AM (8/12/2009)
Was Juan Pablo Montoya's F1 ride back in 2003 @ the Indy road course- Jeff pretty quickly was running speeds near JPM's, and JPM quickly was running speeds near Jeff's.
Course it was a weird foreshadowing of things to come. Esp with JPM enjoying his best season so far in a stock car.
Louis 10:51AM (8/12/2009)
I'm guessing Ferrari's F1 expectations were already pretty low even before putting Badoer in the driver's seat.
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lester 10:55AM (8/12/2009)
Ferrari needs to bring out the Big Guns. His name is Kubi-snacks aka KUBICA.
There is simply no other viable solution.
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freeicc 2:34PM (8/21/2009)
I agree , It would be nice to Kubica in a postion to be the driver he could be !
Freak Mojo 11:16AM (8/12/2009)
Hmmm.... is Valentino Rossi available between MotoGP wins? :)
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HeyHuub 1:51PM (8/12/2009)
The longest gap between 2 races in F1 actually belongs to Jan Lammers, from 1979 to 1992.
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