46 Facts About Luca Badoer

Between 1993 and 1999, Luca Badoer competed in Formula One at 56 Grands Prix for Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti.

Luca Badoer holds the record for the most starts 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.

Luca Badoer nearly achieved a points finish in the 1999 European Grand Prix, when the gearbox on his Minardi M01 failed whilst running in fourth.

Luca Badoer raced karts in his youth starting in 1985 and scored two wins.

In 1986, Luca Badoer drove in the 100cc category to become the karting champion of Venice and became national champion the following year.

Luca Badoer won the Italian championship in the 100cc international class in 1988.

Luca Badoer finished 4th overall in the championship taking 33 points.

In 1992 Luca Badoer graduated to the Formula 3000 Championship, where he was selected to drive for Crypton Engineering.

Luca Badoer won four races, including a dominating display at Pergusa where he finished 21 seconds ahead of Emanuele Naspetti.

Luca Badoer had an offer of a long-term contract with Tyrrell to join the team, starting in the 1993 season.

Luca Badoer rejected this offer and signed with BMS Scuderia Italia instead.

In South Africa, Luca Badoer retired after 20 laps due to gearbox failure.

In Spain, he was unable to finish and at Monaco, Luca Badoer finished the last of the runners.

At Magny-Cours, Silverstone, Hockenheim and Budapest, Luca Badoer failed to finish, twice to suspension failure.

Luca Badoer did not make the restart, having no spare chassis.

Luca Badoer emerged from the collision unhurt but Argentine safety marshals were heavily criticised for failing to assist Badoer in a timely manner because they feared a fire would break out.

At Imola, Luca Badoer had a newer car and outqualified Montermini by more than a second.

Luca Badoer finished 10th and the last of the runners.

In Monaco, Luca Badoer remained at the back and collided with Jacques Villeneuve at Mirabeau forcing both drivers to retire.

Luca Badoer did not qualify in Spain but started 20th in Canada.

In France, Luca Badoer started ahead of Eddie Irvine after the Ferrari was relegated to the back.

In 1997 Luca Badoer moved to the new FIA GT Championship, driving a Lotus Elise GT1 for GBF Engineering with co-driver Mimmo Schiattarella.

Luca Badoer returned to Formula One racing in 1999, again with the Minardi team.

At Melbourne, Luca Badoer raced as high as fifth at some point until gearbox problems forced him to retire with 15 laps to go.

Luca Badoer returned for Imola with his hand still causing problems but managed to finish eighth.

Luca Badoer suffered from gearbox problems and a spin in Monaco and Spain.

Luca Badoer was so upset he broke down in tears after climbing out of the car.

Luca Badoer overall started 48 races for backmarkers Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti Corse between 1993 and 1999.

Unable to find a satisfactory race seat in Formula One after 1999, Luca Badoer focused on his job as the permanent test driver for Ferrari, covering thousands of kilometres at the Mugello and Fiorano test circuits each year.

Luca Badoer is credited with making a vital contribution to Ferrari's first Formula One Drivers' Championship win for 21 years in 2000.

At the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Luca Badoer demonstrated one of the team's 2005 cars in the centre of the stadium.

The BBC reported that Luca Badoer was given the job as a "thank you for his commitment to the team".

Luca Badoer was 1.3 seconds down on Raikkonen in second practice, and 1.9 seconds off in final practice.

Luca Badoer was caught speeding in the pit-lane four times during Friday practice.

Luca Badoer had never driven the Ferrari F60 before, having last tested the Ferrari F2008 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal in December 2008.

In racing at Valencia, Luca Badoer became the first Italian to drive for Ferrari in 15 years.

Luca Badoer made up six places at the start of the race and ran 14th on the first lap before he was hit from behind by Grosjean and spun.

Luca Badoer eventually finished in 17th place out of 18 finishers, posting a fastest lap which was faster than both Toro Rossos.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali indicated after the race that Luca Badoer would keep the seat for the Belgian Grand Prix.

At the start of the race, Luca Badoer avoided the accidents on the first lap and finished in 14th place, last of those drivers to finish the full race distance, despite setting the fastest sector one time of the race.

Luca Badoer was replaced by Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella starting at the Italian Grand Prix, although over the five remaining races of the season he failed to score any points.

Luca Badoer blamed the negative media coverage of his driving for Ferrari's decision to replace him.

Luca Badoer ended his 12-year role at Ferrari with a demonstration of the Ferrari F60, the car Badoer raced in 2009 on a Ferrari-themed day at the Bologna Motor Show on 8 December 2010.

Luca Badoer took part in a forum for Gazzetta dello Sport, where he stated his only regret was that he "was only able to do two races [for the Scuderia]".

In January 2011, Luca Badoer drove the Ferrari F60 with a special livery on the ice of the Madonna di Campiglio for his final act with the team.

Luca Badoer is married and has two children - Rocco and Brando.