Luca Badoer gets two days in an F60
Luca Badoer did his last circuit test in a Ferrari F2008 in December
Luca Badoer will spend two days at the wheel of the Ferrari F60 ahead of his F1 comeback at Valencia next week. According to Ferrari:
Tomorrow and Tuesday Luca will be part of a video shooting for promotional purposes behind the F60’s wheel at the Fiorano race track.
Isn’t it convenient the team should need to shoot this material in the days running up to his comeback?
Still, you have to wonder if there would be more of a fuss if it was Michael Schumacher getting two days in the F60. Particularly after Williams and the Red Bull teams moved to block him from testing (which two-thirds of F1 Fanatic readers agreed with).
It should at least give Badoer a chance to familiarise himself with the cockpit of the car. He did not drive it prior to the onset of the in-season testing ban, and if he has conducted any of Ferrari’s allocated aerodynamic test days since then it seems to have gone unrecorded.
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Net Sticks said on 17th August 2009, 7:02
Is this some kind of a joke?!….
Are the other teams and FIA sleeping?….
What a sham!…
Sam B said on 17th August 2009, 7:15
Get over it, it’s _Luca Badoer_. He’s there making the case for Sakon Yamomoto to be given the Ferrari seat for the rest of the season.
Blue_linksys said on 17th August 2009, 7:23
U’ve got a nice anti-ferrari campaign and good amt of followers keith. Such a waste this great work has to be put to a useless and belittle cause
Lia said on 17th August 2009, 8:19
Leaf, could you please make a reference to this specific rule about 100 km/h? Because 22.1 sporting regs doesn’t say anything.
GeeMac said on 17th August 2009, 8:28
It’s all fair and above board. Like someone said above, he’ll be running on ultra-hard tyres, so Ferrari won’t gain anything. This article on the F1 website seems to suggest that he’ll be limited to 100 kilometers of running, not 100 kp/h. Some clarify on the rules would be appreciated.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/8/9746.html
Luca’s major problem isn’t going to be lack of tracktime in the F60, it’s going to be lack of racing over the last 10 years. Pounding round Fiorano in testing is one thing, racing for Ferrari, and all the pressure that comes with it, is quite another.
The sri lankan said on 17th August 2009, 8:53
rules are rules. highly doubt a 100Km/H promo run is going to constitiue to atestdrive. but im wandering why Ferrari is allowed tis when Jaime Algusari isnt.
gabal said on 17th August 2009, 9:45
What exactly are the rules about this promotional runs? I know they have to use a tyre which doesn’t relate at all to ones whit which they would race but is it limited in number of days? I know Williams usually shoot a one-day for promotion on some spanish track.
Besides, he can simply put on Kimi’s or Massa’s helmet – honestly, who will know the difference while he is sitting in a cockpit?
Patrickl said on 17th August 2009, 12:21
http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/8713/fia.html
22.1 a) Track testing shall be considered any track running time undertaken by a competitor entered in the
Championship with the exception of :
i) promotional or demonstration events carried out using tyres provided specifically for this purpose by the appointed supplier ;
marc said on 17th August 2009, 11:32
OMMMGGGG why does he get a test drive?
that means Jaime Alguersuari is allowed to get a few days testing….maybe even give every test driver for every team (just test drivers) a few days testing…just to be fare
ohplease said on 17th August 2009, 11:58
Oh please… Cut the c, everyone. I bet that this promotional shoot will be supervised by someone from FIA and that there are some limits set. As someone said – if that was wrong or outside the rules, Williams would whine their lungs out about it.
Whether you like Ferrari or not, Luca Badoer has been the unluckiest driver in F1 history and he deserves a chance to race once again before he retires. So i’ll be more than happy if he scores some points. Some say he hasn’t much race experience – i don’t think that is something you forget easily ;) Plus most modern tracks are places without much space to overtake so the qualifications are what count.
Let Luca drive even if you hate Ferrari – such veterans and loyal people should be praised, regardless of which team they’re on.
GooddayBruce said on 17th August 2009, 12:25
If it is this easy – why all the nonsense about asking for an exemption for Schumacher?
gabal said on 17th August 2009, 12:58
They haven’t found this loophole before. Besides, maybe they thought they could get away with real testing, not this…
Red Andy said on 17th August 2009, 13:27
Because promotional events, as outlined within the FIA regs, are obviously useless for a) driver familiarisation and b) part development.
Ral said on 17th August 2009, 13:19
Does anyone ever read any of the other comments before spouting their own opinion and so re-hashing the same thing for the umpteenth time?
Cheeky or not, it’s within the rules, he’ll be using ultra hard tyres supplied by Bridgestone specifically for these purposes and he won’t be able to drive faster than 100km/h. Which basically means he can’t take off the pitlane limiter. I don’t see what all the fuss is about.
VXR said on 17th August 2009, 14:20
Actually,you should have read them yourself.He will be limited to 100kms in distance and not 100kph in speed.
Patrickl said on 17th August 2009, 15:54
Does it matter though? Testing only 20 laps will not do much good either.
Actually, I still haven’t seen verification of any distance (or speed) limit. As said before, it’s not in the written regulations.
Still, just the extra hard tyre compound alone probably makes the test pretty useless.
Ral said on 18th August 2009, 16:37
I did, and as far as I understand it’s speed, not distance that’s limited. But I’m just as unsure about that as anyone else in here. It just gets a bit silly when almost half of the comments say the same thing using only slightly different wording.
GeorgeK said on 17th August 2009, 14:28
Much ado about nothing, it’s within the rules and perfectly acceptable. They should be admired for mitigating their problems by maximizing what’s allowed by the regs.
PJA said on 17th August 2009, 14:35
Can someone clarify something for me, the promotional runs teams are allowed is the 100km distance limit the total for the whole season or per event?
Autosport says
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77721
Which seems to suggest it is 100km per day. If this is the case I think it a pity that teams have not used their current cars at events such as Goodwood, but if it is 100km for the whole season, which seems more likely, you could see why they would still use last years cars.
Patrickl said on 17th August 2009, 15:58
Ferrari already did a two day promotional event (commercial shoot) in Bahrain in Februari. With both Raikkonen and Massa IIRC.
Still wonder where they got the 100km limit from.