Ten facts about Luca Badoer
After 12 years of service as Ferrari's test driver, and almost a decade since his last grand prix, Luca Badoer is probably as surprised as many observers about getting a chance to race again as Kimi Raikkonen's temporary team-mate
Felipe Massa's injuries from his Hungarian GP accident, allied to Michael Schumacher's inability to race, have left the door open for Badoer to get at least another grand prix under his belt.
Here are 10 facts about the Italian
• Luca Badoer's return to F1 means there will now be two drivers in the field who competed in the 1993 season. Both he and Rubens Barrichello made their debuts that year.
• Badoer's promotion to F1 in 1993 came after a title-winning F3000 campaign the year before, where he took the crown with four wins.
• Badoer's F1 return means he will be the oldest driver in the field - taking over that honour from Barrichello. The Italian is currently 38 years old.
• His promotion to Ferrari race seat means Badoer will still only have driven for Italian teams in F1. He has previously raced for Scuderia Italia, Minardi and Forti Corse.
• Badoer is Ferrari's longest serving test driver, having originally begun work for them back in 1998.
• Despite having competed in 48 grands prix, Badoer never scored a point. His best finish was 7th in the 1993 San Marino Grand Prix.
• Badoer's failure to score a point gives him the distinction of being the driver with the most race starts who has not achieved that feat.
• His best grid position is 12th, which he delivered for Minardi at the 1995 Hungarian Grand Prix. In the race he finished 8th.
• Luca Badoer famously broke down in tears at the 1999 European Grand Prix after his car stopped with gearbox failure as he seemed en route to fourth place.
• Badoer's near 10-year gap between his last race at the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix and his return in Valencia is not quite as big as the 10 years and three months between Jan Lammers' races in the 1982 Dutch and 1992 Japanese Grand Prix.
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