Formula One news

Childhood dream becomes reality for Badoer

The circumstances may be unusual but Luca Badoer will realise the dream of a lifetime when he drives for Ferrari in the European Grand Prix next weekend. Standing in for Michael Schumacher, who in turn was called up to cover for Felipe Massa, the former team-mates' injuries have allowed the reserve driver to compete.                 

Six drivers have raced for Ferrari since Badoer joined the team 11 years ago

Despite never having raced for Ferrari, Italy's Luca Badoer is the longest standing driver for the team since joining as tester in 1998. At 38 years of age, the Treviso-born man will be the oldest competitor on the grid in Spain and ends a near ten-year F1 race draught having last raced for Minardi in 1999 - the return will mark the end of the second longest period in the sport's history, after Jan Lammers' 10 years and 3 months, of being out of F1 racing before returning.

"Since I've been a child I've always wanted to race for Ferrari and now I've got the possibility to make this desire come true," Badoer, who has started 48 Grands Prix, told the Ferrari website. "I'm really sorry for Michael because I know how much he wanted to return - I'm saying that as his friend and his fan. We've been in contact over the last days and we drove karts together at Lonato last week, so I followed him very closely."

With three, if not four, new teams joining the grid next year, Badoer's Ferrari races could be the ideal platform for attention

Badoer, like other key members of the Maranello-based team, was notified of Schumacher's sorry but necessary decision on Monday night. "He called me a couple of minutes after Stefano Domenicali (team principal) had told me the news and I know that he'll always be ready to give me some advice and will shout for me," Badoer continued.

Luca holds the unenviable record of having raced in the most Grands Prix without scoring a point and knows that, with all in-season circuit testing banned, the Valencian challenge will not be an easy one. "Although this year's rules foresee a drastically reduced mileage for us test drivers, I have prepared myself to be ready under any circumstances, just as I've been doing over the last years," he confirmed. "I've been in this business for quite a while. After Felipe's accident I intensified my programme and I'm sure that I won't have any problems from that point of view."

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