An emotional farewell for Ferrari’s Luca Badoer
Luca Badoer has been a part of Ferrari for 13 years and was integral to the team. However, he managed to race only twice for the team in 2009 after Felipe Massa’s accident but his presence and advice was extremely appreciated.
Luca has been a part of Formula One since 1993 but the 39-year old was unable to prove anything. He used to drive for Lola in 1993 before joining Minardi in 1995. The Italian moved on to Forti in 1996 before returning to Minardi
in 1999 once again.
Badoer was given a farewell demonstration run in the 2009 Ferrari F1 car at the Bologna Motor show recently.
“Even after so many years of doing it, driving a Formula One car here, so close to the spectators, so as to let them get a close-up feel for the power of these cars is a feeling one never gets used to. Today’s experience was more
emotional than usual, because it is my last appearance in my role as official Ferrari test driver,” said Badoer.
Luca Badoer joined Ferrari in 1998 officially but never got the opportunity to race for the team until 2009. He helped the team during their test sessions mostly during his 13 year period with the team. Badoer gave a disappointing
performance in 2009 after which Giancarlo Fisichella was chosen over him to race for the rest of the season in Ferrari as a replacement for Felipe Massa.
“The only regret is that I was only able to do two races. The team had confidence in me at that time and that is something I will always be grateful for. At the time, I had not been driving for 10 months and found myself at the
wheel of a car that was difficult to adapt to and so I could not show what I could do,” Badoer admitted.
The team stated that they will miss the Italian driver and his work in the team was extremely appreciated. Luca said that he enjoyed working with Ferrari.
“The thing I will miss most is driving the Formula One car. I have never been one for the bright lights, as the one and only thing I wanted centered on my job of taking a car to its limits, working out where there was room for
improvement,” said Badoer.
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