Badoer in 2007
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Born |
Montebelluna, Italy |
25 January 1971
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Formula One World Championship career | |
Nationality | Italian |
Active years | 1993, 1995–1996, 1999, 2009 |
Teams | Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti, Ferrari |
Entries | 58 (50 starts) |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Career points | 0 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
First entry | 1993 South African Grand Prix |
Last entry | 2009 Belgian Grand Prix |
Luca Badoer (born 25 January 1971) is an Italian former racing driver. Badoer has raced for the Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti Corse and most recently, Ferrari teams. In addition to his racing duties, Badoer was one of the active test and reserve drivers for Ferrari from 1998 to 2010 and in 2009 stood in for Ferrari's regular race driver Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix after the Brazilian was injured during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and his original replacement, Michael Schumacher, pulled out due to injury.
As of September 2011[update], Badoer holds the record for the most Grand Prix starts – 50 – and the most race laps completed – 2364 – without scoring a point, although all of his races before his 2009 comeback came during a period when only the top six finishers scored points. Under the 2010 scoring system, he would have scored 26 points over his career. He nearly achieved a points finish in the 1999 European Grand Prix when a strong drive saw him reach fourth place, but the gearbox on his Minardi failed with 13 laps remaining.
Badoer was born in Montebelluna, Veneto, Italy. He raced karts in his youth starting in 1985 and scored two wins. In 1986, Badoer drove in the 100cc category to become the karting champion of Venice and became national champion the following year. He won the Italian championship in the 100cc international class in 1988.
In 1989, Badoer moved to single-seater racing, joining the Trivellato team in the Italian Formula Three Championship driving a Dallara/Alfa Romeo that followed a move to MRD in 1990. Driving a Ralt RT33 Alfa Romeo, he defeated Alex Zanardi and Roberto Colciago to win the final race of the 1990 season and finished 10th in the championship. In 1991 he moved to the Supercars team driving a Dallara 391 Alfa Romeo to win four races in succession, but was disqualified after a technicality concerning his tyres. Badoer finished 4th overall taking 33 points. For 1992 he was picked to drive by Crypton Engineering for the Formula 3000 Championship, in which he emerged as champion, winning four races en route to the title.