Luca Badoer

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Luca Badoer

Nationality	Italian
Car #	—
Current team	Ferrari
Formula One World Championship career
Races	56 (48 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Career points	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1993 South African Grand Prix


Latest race	1999 Japanese Grand Prix
2007 position	—

Luca Badoer (born January 25, 1971) is an Italian Formula One driver who has raced for the Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti Corse teams, and is presently a test driver for the Ferrari F1 team.

[edit] Career

Badoer was born in Montebelluna, Veneto.

Prior to reaching Formula One, he graduated through the time-honoured route of karting, in which he was Italian champion. He beat Alex Zanardi in the final round of the 1990 Italian Formula 3 Championship. In 1991 he won four races in a row, but was disqualified after a technicality concerning his tyres. For 1992 he was offered a ride in Team Crypton for the F3000 Championship, in which he emerged as champion.

His début Formula One season in 1993 was mired by Scuderia Italia's uncompetitive Lola chassis, which, despite Ferrari engines, was the slowest car in the championship in terms of qualifying pace. He regularly beat his experienced team-mate Michele Alboreto, but lost out to him for the second drive when Scuderia Italia merged with Minardi for the 1994 season. He was retained as test driver however, and took over the drive in 1995 when Alboreto retired. In the underfunded team his best results were eighth places in Canada and Hungary and ninth in Japan. In 1996 he switched to Forti Corse, where he was only able to qualify for six of the ten races the team entered, which folded after that year's British Grand Prix.

In 1997 Badoer began his long spell as Ferrari's test driver, a role he continues to perform. He returned to racing for one season in 1999, with the Minardi team. In the July of that season, Ferrari's number one driver Michael Schumacher broke his leg in an accident at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. As Ferrari's test driver, Badoer expected to be promoted to the race seat in Schumacher's absence, but the team opted for Mika Salo instead, prompting criticism from former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi.

Badoer holds the dubious distinction of being the driver who has competed in the most Grands Prix (48) without scoring a single point. He nearly achieved his first points finish in the 1999 European Grand Prix when a strong drive saw Badoer lying in 4th place with only 13 laps remaining. Unfortunately the gearbox on his Minardi subsequently failed and television cameras showed Badoer weeping by his stricken car.

Badoer was unable to find a satisfactory race seat in Formula One after 1999, and he became a permanent test driver for Ferrari. He covers thousands of kilometres at the Mugello and Fiorano test circuits each year and it is likely that Badoer has driven more kilometres in a Ferrari F1 car than any other Italian in history.

At the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Badoer demonstrated one of the team's 2005 cars in the centre of the stadium, revving the engine, and performing several doughnuts, creating a large cloud of tyre smoke, and leaving circular black marks on the white platform. The event was witnessed by millions of television viewers worldwide.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC
1993	Lola BMS Scuderia Italia	Lola T93/30	Ferrari V12	RSA Ret	BRA 12	EUR DNQ	SMR 7	ESP Ret	MON DNQ	CAN 15	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA 10	POR 14	JPN	AUS		-
1995	Minardi Scuderia Italia	Minardi M195	Ford V8	BRA Ret	ARG DNS	SMR 14	ESP Ret	MON Ret	CAN 8	FRA 13	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN 8	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 14	EUR 11	PAC 15	JPN 9	AUS DNS	-
1996	Forti Grand Prix	Forti FG01B	Ford V8	AUS DNQ	BRA 11	ARG Ret	EUR DNQ														-
1996	Forti Grand Prix	Forti FG03	Ford V8					SMR 10	MON Ret	ESP DNQ	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		-
1999	Fondmetal Minardi Ford	Minardi M01	Ford V10	AUS Ret	BRA Inj	SMR 8	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 10	FRA 10	GBR Ret	AUT 13	GER 10	HUN 14	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	MAL Ret	JPN Ret		-

[edit] External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Christian Fittipaldi	International Formula 3000 Champion 1992	Succeeded by Olivier Panis
Preceded by Rubens Barrichello	Formula One Indoor Trophy winner 1995	Succeeded by Giancarlo Fisichella