Badoer Says Emotional Good-Bye to Ferrari

After 12 years spent within the Scuderia garage as either a test/reserve driver or an official racer, Italian driver Luca Badoer said an emotional good-bye to Ferrari yesterday, after a special visit to the Bologna Auto Show.

The 39-year old racer was present at the aforementioned event to do Ferrari's traditional Formula 1 demonstration, which was a chance to drive a Ferrari F1 single-seater for the last time (as an official racer of the Scuderia). After he completed the demo, Badoer went on to participate in a special forum organized by Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, in which he revealed the fans present in Bologna his feelings leaving the Maranello team.

“Even after so many years of doing it, driving a Formula 1 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,” said Badoer on Ferrari's official website.

“Plus, today’s experience was more emotional than usual, because it is my last appearance in my role as official Ferrari test driver. The thing I will miss most is driving the Formula 1 car. I have never been one for the bright lights, as the one and only thing I wanted centred on my job of taking a car to its limits, working out where there was room for improvement.”

“Although this is something I have missed for quite a while now, as testing has been cut back and there is not much for a test driver to do.”

Badoer admitted that his biggest regret since joining the Scuderia back in 1999 was that he didn't get the chance to drive more for Ferrari in official racer. The only chance he had, last year, when he replaced injured Felipe Massa, he was heavily criticized for his poor pace. He started only 2 races for Ferrari, in Valencia and Spa-Francorchamps.

“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,” added Badoer.

“Unfortunately, at the time, I had not been driving for ten 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.”

In the end, he admitted he will miss a lot of people back at Maranello, yet he didn't give any clues as to where (or if) he will continue his racing career.