Italian Luca Badoer is up to the challenge after being handed a race drive by Ferrari when Michael Schumacher cancelled plans for a temporary return to Formula One, he said on Tuesday. Seven-times world champion Schumacher was due to replace the injured Felipe Massa but had to pull out with a neck problem, handing a golden opportunity to the team's experienced test driver.
Formula One drivers backed Italian Luca Badoer on Saturday after the Ferrari stand-in finished last in European Grand Prix qualifying in Valencia. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen said modern Formula One made it difficult to jump into an unfamiliar car and go quick.
Formula One champions Ferrari could replace stand-in driver Luca Badoer if the Italian does not raise his game significantly in Belgium next weekend.
The old men of Formula One were first and last in opening European Grand Prix practice on Friday with Rubens Barrichello quickest while Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer was a second slower than anyone else. Badoer, the 38-year-old Italian preparing for his first start in a decade after Brazilian Felipe Massa was seriously injured in Hungary, was watched by retired seven-times champion Michael Schumacher.
Struggling Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer says it would be 'absurd' for the Formula One champions to replace him ahead of his home Grand Prix at Monza next week. Badoer, 38, has qualified and crossed the line last in the two races he has started as replacement for injured Brazilian Felipe Massa.
The racing scenes in Brad Pitt's new F1 movie are impressively authentic but the filmmakers have also made much of how the sport's past is woven into the plot -- with a hefty slice of Hollywood artistic licence.
Already accused of buckling under the pressure, Formula One leader Jenson Button has the added strain of racing against a fired-up Giancarlo Fisichella at Monza on Sunday. Champions Ferrari made one of Fisichella's dreams come true when they drafted in the Roman as a replacement for compatriot Luca Badoer, himself standing in for injured Brazilian Felipe Massa, last week.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella did his utmost to impress Ferrari with a jaw-dropping pole position for Force India at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday. With compatriot Luca Badoer spinning out and qualifying last for the second race in a row as stand-in for Ferrari's injured Brazilian Felipe Massa, Fisichella saw his chance and grabbed it with both hands in a qualifying session that almost defied belief.
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