Driver Profile
Luca Badoer profile
Luca Badoer followed the traditional karting route into single-seaters, winning the 1992 Formula 3000 Championship with Crypton Engineering, before heading to Formula One.
He made his debut in F1 back in 1993 with BMS Scuderia Italia team, however, the season was largely disappointing due to the uncompetitive Lola chassis, which was deemed to be the slowest in the field. He failed to qualify for two races, retired from six and only finished six. He stayed with the team, which merged with Minardi for the 1994 season, but only as their test driver.
He returned to racing in 1995, another disappointing season, before moving to Forti Grand Prix the following year, where he only qualified for six of the ten races that the team contested.
In 1997 he begun his career with Ferrari, signing up as the Italian outfit's test driver, a position he has held ever since except in 1999 when he raced for Minardi. His time with Minardi brought his total to 48 race starts without a single World Championship point, a dubious record that Badoer still holds.
However, the 38-year-old has the chance to score his first F1 points when he races for Ferrari at the 2009 European and Belgian Grands Prix. Badoer has been called up to replace the injured Felipe Massa and will be hoping that this time around F1 is a bit kinder to him.
