Test Drivers

Paarma · 2 Jul 2004, 03:06 (Ref:1023218)

What do you make of current test drivers? Are these guys F1 material or "development drivers"? I know Marc Gene seemed to do a pretty good job the last time I saw him race, and now he has a chance to prove himself again. But will guys like Wurz or Badoer ever get a chance to race in a top team, without accidents? These guys seem to be good drivers, but there must some be a reason they haven't secured a racing seat. I am assuming they would rather race with Sauber, Jordan or even Minardi, rather than test for a top team.

Kicking-back · 2 Jul 2004, 09:27 (Ref:1023473)

Wurz and Badoer have both had opportunities to race for smaller teams, but have chosen to stay where they are.

Both are in teams who pay them highly and consider them key members of the team.

BootsOntheSide · 2 Jul 2004, 14:13 (Ref:1023747)

At one point Wurz was seen as the next big thing, but he had 2 hge crashes in quick succession in 1998 and seemed to completely lose his racing sparkle. Considering that he's very tall and would take an effort to fit into most team's cars (as Coulthard is 6 foot tall it's not a problem at McLaren), he is probably better continuing behnd the scenes.

At Ferrari Badoer recieves a good wage, great status and respect, and a feeling of contributing to succcess. His alst racing campaign (1999 at Minardi) was probably the exact opposite).

Tamás · 2 Jul 2004, 18:07 (Ref:1023935)

Some people think these test-drivers are not enough talented to get a seat at a top-team, but this is not the reality. A number of these drivers are young racers from other series e.g. international Formula-3000; they try to enter the formula one. They usually work for teams having a little budget. Old racers (de la Rosa) want to stay in the f1, but without competitions, or they didn't get jobs at other teams.

So the gifted driver's future is doubtful: Either they take part in formula one races but they drive only the worse cars, or they apply for a test-pilot-job to one of the top teams. I think this is the better way. Nick Heidfeld choosed the other one: and he isn't able to get a job at McLaren or Ferrari. But Burti works for Scuderia with the hope he will be lucky and can drive a Ferrari race car.

Kicking-back · 2 Jul 2004, 18:20 (Ref:1023948)

Burti is not with Ferrari now - although he gets the occasional "freelance" test with them.

Luca Badoer has been number one tester at Ferrari for 5 years.

mp356a · 2 Jul 2004, 19:29 (Ref:1024015)

In my opinion Badoer is one of the most talented and least heralded test drivers/developers out there. His contributions to the red team are not recognized enough. I don't even really like Ferrari but I highly regard Badoer. I would love to see him race.
Mike

Kicking-back · 2 Jul 2004, 19:37 (Ref:1024020)

Badoer is good at the job he does, but if you watch him on track you can see he's not as precise with his lines as the top drivers are.

Every lap is slightly different.

But he's found his niche job and well done to him.

BSchneiderFan · 2 Jul 2004, 20:40 (Ref:1024064)

Quote:

Originally posted by Kicking-back
Luca Badoer has been number one tester at Ferrari for 5 years.

Rather longer than that, surely? Hasn't Badoer been with the Scuderia since '97?

ASCII Man · 2 Jul 2004, 20:48 (Ref:1024072)

Yep since 1997, IIRC he was loaned out to Minardi by Ferrari in '99.

esorniloc · 2 Jul 2004, 22:04 (Ref:1024125)

If Badoer had been good enough (in Ferrari's eyes) in 99, why didn't they use him when Schu was out for some races? I think this proves that Badoer isn't good enough to race for them and thats why he is happy where he is!

ASCII Man · 2 Jul 2004, 22:13 (Ref:1024137)

And that comes from someone that thinks that Martin Brundle is clueless...

Rrrrright...

They chose Salo because they knew Mika would be prepared to 'roll over and play dead' if it was deemed necessary.

Kicking-back · 2 Jul 2004, 22:16 (Ref:1024140)

They chose Salo because they had doubts about Luca's racing ability.

Mr V · 4 Jul 2004, 00:18 (Ref:1025281)

Quote:

Originally posted by ASCII Man

They chose Salo because they knew Mika would be prepared to 'roll over and play dead' if it was deemed necessary.

Given that Badoer has been with Ferrari for so long, simply testing, i'm sure that he would 'roll over and play dead'...................

..................if it was deemed necessary.

BootsOntheSide · 4 Jul 2004, 14:36 (Ref:1025823)

Considering that Salo only narrowly beat Luca (in the Minardi) at the Hungaroring (a track similar to Monaco, where Mika ahs a rgeat record), you have to say that was the wrong choice. Luca had proven his racing ability, they simply felt that if they brought Mika in, they would continue to have a good testing backup, and it wouldn't disturb his deal with Minardi. Luca ran Alboreto close as a rookie, which surely prove shis ability to some extent.

mp356a · 4 Jul 2004, 22:27 (Ref:1026190)

They never promoted Luca because he is such an excellent developer. He logs amazing amounts of mileage for that team.
Few testers of that caliber, I think.
I wish he worked/raced for someone else.
Toyota should open that bottemless coffer and steal him.......
Mike

Mekola · 5 Jul 2004, 02:09 (Ref:1026295)

I think Ferrari chose Salo over Badoer as a Schu replacement in 1999 for pure "image" reasons. Remember that in that time Salo was considered a underrated driver and Badoer was only remembered by his lacklustre performances in smaller teams.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Test Drivers	Marshal	Formula One	18	15 Jan 2004 00:03
Test Drivers	marcus	Motorsport History	6	12 Aug 2003 08:06
Battle of the Test Drivers	DNQ	Formula One	23	1 Aug 2003 21:39
Test drivers	CleanTone	Bike Racing	2	1 May 2003 08:58
F1 test drivers?	Francesca	Formula One	7	29 Sep 2002 17:44