Formula One news
Domenicali hints of replacing Badoer
24 August 2009Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has failed to deny that Luca Badoer could be swapped as replacement for Felipe Massa after this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. The Italian endured a tough first race weekend for Ferrari in Valencia on his way to finishing the European Grand Prix last of the runners in seventeenth place.
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With Felipe Massa injured and watching the race at home in Brazil, Ferrari's longest serving driver experienced a difficult weekend which included four pit lane speeding punishments in practice, a spin in the race and a drive-through penalty before running into the back of Adrian Sutil's parked Force India in parc fermé.
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"As I have said before, Ferrari cannot be satisfied with a car in last position," said Domenicali. "That is pretty clear but we need to consider all the circumstances and everything that has happened. I think if you look behind it, for sure it was a difficult weekend for him.
"In terms of race pace, if you look to compare to the other young drivers, you can draw your own opinion; he made a great start and then he was touched from behind so he lost a place and then, in terms of rhythm, everyone was worried about his health, worried about it not being possible for him to get to the finish and that he would have to go to the hospital, but he was very good."
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| Badoer's F1 return was widely viewed as disappointing |
Can Domenicali explain in more detail Badoer's various comments referring to being on a 'programme' at the weekend? "When he said he was on a programme, I think what he meant to say was that he had this weekend in order to see where the limits were and what the starting point was," Domenicali explained. "When you come into a racing environment you have to learn so many things that are totally different from when you are doing the testing, so that is I think what he thought about that."
With Ferrari having previously said that the Treviso driver will remain in the car until Felipe Massa's return, have Valencia's results affected this viewpoint?
"What I said exactly, to be precise, is that for us the first priority is to understand when Felipe Massa will come back," the team principal concluded. "For sure, it is an important race for Luca Badoer next weekend - we are expecting a big jump from him and then we will see."
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