Luca Badoer

Born	(1971-01-25) 25 January 1971 (age 41)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1993, 1995–1996, 1999, 2009
Teams	Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti, Ferrari
Races	58 (50 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1993 South African Grand Prix
Last race	2009 Belgian Grand Prix

Luca Badoer (born 25 January 1971) is an Italian Formula One driver who 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 – without a point,^[1] although all of his races before his 2009 comeback came during a period when only the top six finishers scored points, and he would have scored 25 points under the 2010 scoring system.^[2] Badoer also holds the record for the most race laps completed – 2364^[3] – without scoring a point. He nearly achieved a points finish in the 1999 European Grand Prix when a strong drive saw him lying in fourth place, but the gearbox on his Minardi failed with 13 laps remaining.^[4]

Career[link]

Badoer was born in Montebelluna, Veneto.^[5] He raced karts in his youth, winning the Italian championship in the 100cc international class in 1988.^[6][7]

1990s: Formula 3000 to Formula One[link]

In 1990, Badoer moved to single-seater racing, joining the Trivellato team in the Italian Formula Three Championship.^[7] He beat Alex Zanardi to win the final race of the 1990 season. In 1991 he won four races in a row, but was disqualified after a technicality concerning his tyres. For 1992 he was picked to drive by Crypton Engineering for the Formula 3000 Championship, in which he emerged as champion,^[8] winning four races en route to the title.^[9]

Badoer driving for Minardi at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

His debut Formula One season in 1993 was mired by BMS Scuderia Italia's uncompetitive Lola chassis, which, despite Ferrari engines, was the slowest car in the championship in terms of qualifying pace. He regularly beat his experienced team-mate Michele Alboreto, but lost out to him for the second drive when Scuderia Italia merged with Minardi for the 1994 season. He was retained as test driver, and took over in 1995 when Alboreto retired. In the underfunded team his best results were eighth places in Canada and Hungary and ninth in Japan. In 1996 he switched to Forti Corse, where he was only able to qualify for six of the ten races the team entered. In the 1996 Argentine Grand Prix Badoer was involved in a heavy collision with Pedro Diniz, whose Ligier struck him from behind and flipped his Forti upside down. He emerged from the collision unhurt, but Argentine safety marshals were heavily criticised for failing to assist Badoer in a timely manner.^[10] Forti Corse folded after that year's British Grand Prix.

In 1997 Badoer moved to the new FIA GT Championship, driving a Lotus Elise GT1 for GBF Engineering with codriver Mimmo Schiattarella. While driving for GBF, Badoer was hired as Scuderia Ferrari's test driver, a role he performed until 2010. He returned to racing for one season in 1999, with the Minardi team. In the July of that season, Ferrari's number one driver Michael Schumacher broke his leg in an accident at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. As Ferrari's test driver, Badoer expected to be promoted to the race seat in Schumacher's absence, but the team opted for Mika Salo instead, prompting criticism from former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, who had himself turned the position down.^[11]

Badoer started 48 races for backmarkers Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti Corse between 1993 and 1999, without scoring any points.^[12]

2000s: Ferrari test driver[link]

Badoer testing for Ferrari at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2008

Badoer took part in his first Formula One race for ten years at the 2009 European Grand Prix.

Badoer was dropped in favour of Giancarlo Fisichella after the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.

Unable to find a satisfactory race seat in Formula One after 1999, Badoer focussed on his job as the permanent test driver for Ferrari. He covered thousands of kilometres at the Mugello and Fiorano test circuits each year and has probably driven more kilometres in a Ferrari Formula One car than any other Italian in history. He is credited with making a vital contribution to Ferrari's first Formula One Drivers' Championship win for 21 years in 2000.^[13]

At the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Badoer demonstrated one of the team's 2005 cars in the centre of the stadium. After the pit crew assembled the car, Badoer revved the engine, and performed several doughnuts, creating a large cloud of tyre smoke and leaving circular black marks on the white platform.^[4][14][15]

Return to Formula One racing[link]

On 11 August 2009 it was confirmed that Badoer would return to Formula One racing after almost 10 years, to replace the injured Felipe Massa at the 2009 European Grand Prix in Valencia.^[16] Massa was injured during the qualifying session for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when a piece of suspension fell from the rear of Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car and struck Massa's helmet, fracturing his skull, knocking him unconscious and causing him to crash into a tyre wall. Michael Schumacher was set to replace Massa, but a neck injury Schumacher sustained in a German superbike test earlier in the year forced him to pull out.^[17] Ferrari confirmed that Badoer (Ferrari's longest-serving test driver) would replace the injured Massa instead.^[18] The BBC reported that Badoer was given the job "as a thank you for his commitment to the team".^[19] His previous Formula One appearance was in the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix, where he qualified last and retired late in the race.^[20] While Badoer had waited almost 10 years since his last drive, this gap is shorter than the 10 years and three months between Jan Lammers's appearances at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix and the 1992 Japanese Grand Prix.^[12]

In the first practice session for the 2009 European Grand Prix at the Valencia Street Circuit, where he had never driven before, Badoer came last and was three seconds off the pace of fastest man Rubens Barrichello and 2.5 seconds down on team mate Kimi Räikkönen. He was 1.3 seconds down on Räikkönen in second practice, and 1.9 seconds off in final practice.^[21] He qualified 20th and last for the race, with a time almost 1.5 seconds slower than Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari, who was 19th.^[22][23]

He was also caught speeding in the pit-lane four times during Friday practice.^[24] These offences earned him a reprimand and three separate fines totalling €5,400. Badoer explained: "I am used to a 100kph limit in testing and so when I pressed the speed limiter button at the usual point in the pitlane, it did not give the car enough time to slow to the right speed".^[25]

A number of drivers defended Badoer's performance. Lewis Hamilton said: "I think he's done a good job. He's not put it in the wall; he's kept it on the track. It's an incredibly tall order to jump into the footsteps of Felipe Massa. He hasn't even raced for ten years, so I think anyone who has taken that long out of the car is going to struggle, but instead I think he has done a good job just to keep it on the track and bit-by-bit he will catch up".^[23] Heikki Kovalainen stated, "I don't know what else you could have expected. Sometimes the tyres warm up, or they overheat or they don't warm up, and it's much more complicated than a few years ago where they brought out tyres that worked straightaway in different conditions. I think that knocks the driver's confidence very easily – if the tyres are not working 100 per cent you can't push if you don't feel you have the grip".^[23]

In racing at Valencia, Badoer became the first Italian to drive for Ferrari in 15 years.^[26] BBC commentator and former F1 driver Martin Brundle argued in The Sunday Times that the inclusion of Badoer and Romain Grosjean in the race was dangerous, since new rules that ban further testing until 1 January 2010 mean that they have been unable to gain the experience necessary to race.^[27] Badoer had last been able to test the Ferrari F60 at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal in December 2008.^[28]

Elsewhere, Brundle stated: "It is surprising to some that Ferrari has not elected to use fellow tester Marc Gené who once stood in pretty successfully at Williams. The problem is that, with the testing ban for 2009, none of the test drivers are really up to speed. I personally would have tried a sharp and fit up-and-coming star of which there are many around".^[29] During his race commentary, Brundle suggested that Ferrari should use Massa's absence to give a potential future star a drive.^[30] 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. He eventually finished in 17th place out of 18 finishers,^[31] posting a fastest lap which was faster than both Toro Rossos. Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali indicated after the race that Badoer would keep the seat for the Belgian Grand Prix.^[32]

At the Belgian Grand Prix, Badoer again qualified last after a spin on his last lap of the first qualifying session.^[33] At the start of the race, Badoer avoided the first-lap accidents, but he finished in 14th place, last of those drivers to finish the full race distance,^[34] despite setting the fastest sector one time of the race.^[35][36] Badoer was replaced by Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella starting at the Italian Grand Prix,^[37] although he also failed to score any points in the five remaining races of the season. Badoer blamed the negative media coverage of his driving for Ferrari's decision to replace him.^[38]

Retirement[link]

At the end of 2010, Badoer retired from Ferrari as test driver and was replaced by Jules Bianchi.^[39] He ended his 12-year role at Ferrari with a demonstration of the Ferrari F60, the car Badoer raced with 2009 on a Ferrari themed day at the Bologna Motor Show on 8 December 2010.^[39][40] He also took part in a forum for the Gazzetta dello Sport, where he stated his only reget was "that I was only able to do two races [for the Scuderia]".^[40] In January 2011, Badoer drove the Ferrari F60 with a special livery on the ice of the Madonna di Campiglio for his final act with the team.^[41]

Racing record[link]

Complete International Formula 3000 results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Luca Badoer

• Luca Badoer Official Site (Italian)
• Profile on F1 Rejects

v t e   Scuderia Ferrari Founder: Enzo Ferrari President: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Current personnel: Mario Almondo · Luca Baldisserri · Stefano Domenicali · Pat Fry · Hirohide Hamashima · Luca Marmorini · Neil Martin · Massimo Rivola · Rob Smedley · Andrea Stella · Nicholas Tombazis Former personnel: Luca Badoer · John Barnard · Ross Brawn · Gustav Brunner · Rory Byrne · Carlo Chiti · Gioacchino Colombo · Aldo Costa · Chris Dyer · Cesare Fiorio · Mauro Forghieri · Vittorio Jano · Aurelio Lampredi · Harvey Postlethwaite · Enrique Scalabroni · Gilles Simon · Nigel Stepney · Jean Todt Race drivers: 5. Fernando Alonso · 6. Felipe Massa Test drivers: TBA Former drivers World Champions:  Alberto Ascari ·  Juan Manuel Fangio ·  Mike Hawthorn ·  Phil Hill ·  Niki Lauda ·  Kimi Räikkönen ·  Jody Scheckter ·   Michael Schumacher ·  John Surtees Formula One cars: 125 · 212 · 166 · 275 · 340 · 375 · 500 · 553 · 625 · 555 · D50 · 801 · 246 · 156 · 158 · 1512 · 312 · 312B · 312T · 126C · 156/85 · F1/86 · F1/87 · 640 · 641 · 642 · 643 · F92A · F93A · 412T · F310 · F300 · F399 · F1-2000 · F2001 · F2002 · F2003-GA · F2004 · F2005 · 248 F1 · F2007 · F2008 · F60 · F10 · 150° Italia · F2012

Rob Smedley

File:Rob Smedley Canada 2010.png At the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1973-11-28) 28 November 1973 (age 38) Middlesbrough (England)
Sport
Country	United Kingdom
Sport	Formula One
Team	Scuderia Ferrari

Rob Smedley (born 28 November 1973 in Normanby, Middlesbrough, England) is a race engineer for Formula One driver Felipe Massa at Scuderia Ferrari.

Smedley's radio transmissions to Massa have even achieved cult status, with many Ferrari fans putting his messages on their mobile phones as ringtones.^[1]

Biography and career[link]

Smedley attended St Peter's School in South Bank before going to St Mary's Sixth Form College. He lived in Normanby until he was 18, before going to Loughborough University and beginning his rise through the ranks in motorsport.^[2] He initially studied a degree in mathematics and mechanical engineering, before going onto complete a master's degree.^[3]

With his main field of activity in chassis engineering, he began with Peugeot in 1997 where he worked as a suspension design engineer for the touring car team. He then went on to work in Formula 3000 and the Williams touring car team before making his first foray into Formula One with the Jordan Grand Prix team.

Initially at Jordan, Smedley worked as a data acquisition engineer, overviewing all of the telemetric data that was used by the team's race engineer to support the racing driver. During 2002 and 2003 he went on to be a track engineer for Jordan, before moving to the Ferrari test team at the end of the 2003 season. Smedley initially chose to work on the Ferrari test team because of the possibility to make more technical input, something which is more limited in the race team.

In the middle of the 2006 season, he replaced Gabriele Delli Colli as Felipe Massa's race engineer. Almost immediately Massa’s form improved; his previously common errors became less frequent,^[4] and in August 2006, Massa took his first Formula One pole position and victory at the Turkish Grand Prix. Smedley is noted for his very frank and occasionally humorous radio transmissions to Massa. This includes at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix when he was heard clearly saying "Felipe baby, stay cool"^[1] after Massa was complaining about not having a clear visor for the wet race which was being restarted.^[5]

Following Massa's injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Smedley carried on with the role of race engineer for stand-in drivers Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella as they took over Massa's seat for the remainder of the 2009 season.

Rob Smedley was awarded an honorary degree ("Doctor of Professional Studies") from Teesside University in 2009.^[6]

2010 German Grand Prix[link]

At Hockenheim Smedley delivered a very terse radio instruction, "OK, so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?", towards the end of the race when Massa was in the lead. Massa then allowed Alonso to overtake him and win the race. Following the pass on lap 49 Smedley added 'Ok mate good lad, stick with him now, sorry.'^[7] After the race Ferrari was fined $100,000 for breaching race regulations concerning team orders but the result was allowed to stand.

Career summary[link]

• 1997-1998 : suspension engineer Peugeot (BTCC)
• 1999 : engineer in the test team – Williams (BTCC)
• 2000 : track engineer in Formula 3000
• 2001 : data acquisition engineer - Jordan Grand Prix (F1)
• 2002-2003 : track engineer - Jordan Grand Prix (F1)
• 2004-2005 : engineer in the test team - Scuderia Ferrari (F1)
• 2006–present : race engineer to Felipe Massa - Scuderia Ferrari (F1)

Personal life[link]

Smedley now lives in Italy, due to his work for Ferrari. He is married to Lucy, a former native of Redcar, and has two sons, Frankie and Felix.^{[citation needed]} The Smedleys hold fundraising events on Teesside to support the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society, SANDS, after the death of their daughter Minnie in 2007.^[8]

References[link]

v t e   Scuderia Ferrari Founder: Enzo Ferrari President: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Current personnel: Mario Almondo · Luca Baldisserri · Stefano Domenicali · Pat Fry · Hirohide Hamashima · Luca Marmorini · Neil Martin · Massimo Rivola · Rob Smedley · Andrea Stella · Nicholas Tombazis Former personnel: Luca Badoer · John Barnard · Ross Brawn · Gustav Brunner · Rory Byrne · Carlo Chiti · Gioacchino Colombo · Aldo Costa · Chris Dyer · Cesare Fiorio · Mauro Forghieri · Vittorio Jano · Aurelio Lampredi · Harvey Postlethwaite · Enrique Scalabroni · Gilles Simon · Nigel Stepney · Jean Todt Race drivers: 5. Fernando Alonso · 6. Felipe Massa Test drivers: TBA Former drivers World Champions:  Alberto Ascari ·  Juan Manuel Fangio ·  Mike Hawthorn ·  Phil Hill ·  Niki Lauda ·  Kimi Räikkönen ·  Jody Scheckter ·   Michael Schumacher ·  John Surtees Formula One cars: 125 · 212 · 166 · 275 · 340 · 375 · 500 · 553 · 625 · 555 · D50 · 801 · 246 · 156 · 158 · 1512 · 312 · 312B · 312T · 126C · 156/85 · F1/86 · F1/87 · 640 · 641 · 642 · 643 · F92A · F93A · 412T · F310 · F300 · F399 · F1-2000 · F2001 · F2002 · F2003-GA · F2004 · F2005 · 248 F1 · F2007 · F2008 · F60 · F10 · 150° Italia · F2012

Toranosuke Takagi

In 2008, as a Super GT driver
Born	(1974-02-12) 12 February 1974 (age 38)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Japanese
Active years	1998–1999
Teams	Tyrrell, Arrows
Races	32
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1998 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	1999 Japanese Grand Prix

Toranosuke Takagi, known simply as Tora Takagi (高木 虎之介; born February 12, 1974 in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver.

Early career[link]

Takagi was heavily influenced by his father, a touring car driver. In the early 1980s he began racing karts, competing in his first championship kart race in 1987. After winning several All Japan National Kart A2 series races, Takagi ended his kart racing career in 1991 and began racing Formula Toyota in 1992. In 1993, he began competing in All Japan Formula Three, finishing 10th in his rookie season.

Formula One competition[link]

Takagi driving for Tyrrell at the 1998 Spanish Grand Prix.

During his performance in a 1994 race he drew the attention of Satoru Nakajima, a well-known Japanese Formula One driver, whereupon he joined the Nakajima Racing team and competed in the Formula 3000. He was heavily involved in the team from 1995 until he was chosen as Tyrrell's Formula One test driver in 1997. He graduated to a race seat for 1998, becoming the sixth Japanese driver to compete in F1. Takagi later competed with the Arrows Formula One team, and his European popularity was on the rise. However there were organizational and communication problems between Takagi and both teams, and he left Formula One at the end of the 1999 season.

Post–Formula One career[link]

In 2000, Takagi joined Nakajima Racing's Formula Nippon team, earning eight victories in ten races, the most dominant performance ever by a driver in the series. He later competed in CART (Champ Car) for the Walker Racing team in 2001 and 2002 finishing in a career-best 4th place in Houston, Texas. He transferred to Indy Racing League and joined Mo Nunn Racing, finishing 10th in 2003. In the same year, he competed in the Indianapolis 500, starting in 7th place and finishing in 5th, earning him the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.

After another, largely disappointing season in the IndyCar Series, Takagi returned to Japan in 2005 to compete in Formula Nippon once again, taking part ownership of the Cerumo team and running one of their cars in his own name (Takagi Planning with CERUMO). Takagi also was one of the co-drivers of the #38 Toyota Supra Super GT car, claiming the series title along with Yuji Tachikawa.

Career timeline[link]

• 1987 – Finished 8th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1988 – Finished 4th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1989 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1990 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.
• 1991 – Finished 2nd in Japanese FA National Kart Series championship.
• 1992 – Won two races in Formula Toyota.
• 1993 – Finished 10th in his rookie season in Japanese Formula 3 championship.
• 1994 – Finished 6th in Japanese Formula 3 championship. Spot participation in Japanese Formula 3000 championship from Nakajima Planning, scoring three top-10 finishes.
• 1995 – Finished 2nd in Japanese Formula 3000 championship with Nakajima Planning, scoring three victories.
• 1996 – Finished 4th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship(ex Japanese F3000)with Nakajima Planning, scoring two victories.
• 1997 – Served as test driver for Tyrrell Formula One team. Takagi scored one victory en route to finishing 6th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship with Nakajima Planning.
• 1998 – Drove in Formula One in rookie year driving for Tyrrell. He finished in the top-10 twice, including ninth at Silverstone and Monza.
• 1999 – Competed in Formula One with Arrows, scoring two top-10 finishes,including a career-best seventh at Melbourne (Australian Grand Prix).
• 2000 – Won eight of 10 races en route to winning the Japanese Formula Nippon series title with Nakajima Planning .
• 2001 – Finished 21st in CART point standings in rookie year driving for Walker Racing.He finished in the top-10 three times, including a career-best fourth at Houston.
• 2002 – Finished 15th in CART point standings with Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 seven times, including tying career-best finish with a fourth place at Chicago.
• 2003 – Finished 10th in Indy Racing League point standings in rookie year driving for Mo Nunn Racing. He scored nine top-10 finishes, including a season-best third in June at Texas. He started seventh and finished fifth in first Indianapolis 500, the highest-finishing rookie. He won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.
• 2004 – Competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series with Mo Nunn Racing.
• 2005 – Competed in Formula Nippon as owner-driver of Takagi Planning with CERUMO.

Career results[link]

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

American Open Wheel[link]

(key)

CART results[link]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2001	Walker	MTY 10	LBH Ret	TXS NH	NZR 14	MOT Ret	MIL DSQ	DET Ret	POR 18	CLE 14	TOR Ret	MIS 13	CHI 11	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 7	LSZ 6	ROC Ret	HOU 4	LS 13	SRF 16	FON 15	21st	29
2002	Walker	MTY 14	LBH 6	MOT 8	MIL 14	LS 16	POR 18	CHI 4	TOR 8	CLE 7	VAN 15	MDO 12	ROA 15	MTL 14	DEN 15	ROC 6	MIA 15	SRF 18	FON 18	MXC 6			15th	53