Petrov may find refuge with Ferrari http://rt.com/sport/motorsports/petrov-ferrari-test-driver-347/ Russian Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov, who has recently left the Lotus Renault team, might soon join Ferrari if Italian media reports are to be believed. The Scuderia sees Petrov as a frontrunner for the third drivers seat in the team, Omnicorse reports. The Russian would not take part in developing the new race car in mid season and is likely to be used only as a test driver. There is, however, a possibility that if Ferrari sign Petrov, the Russian could be passed to Marussia on loan until the end of the season. Vitaly Petrov and his manager, Oksana Kosachenko, have yet to comment on the issue. Earlier, Kosachenko claimed that staying in Formula One was a top priority for Vitaly. The Lotus Renault team preferred the Finnish 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen and French newcomer Romain Grosjean to Petrov, despite the Russian becoming the teams most successful driver in 2011. He earned the most points for Lotus Renault this year, claiming one podium finish in Australia early in the season, while his team finished in lowly fifth position in the constructors championships.
They were on opposing teams at the time. surely even someone like alonso can understand (after he's had time to cool off) that it's racing and there's no reason why he would just let him by.
Probably it´s a bad translation: they were talking about Alonso´s new Russian mistress, Xenia Tchoumitcheva
They also saw something in Gene, Fisichella and Badoer, something that everyone else still is failing to see... So, so much...
Ferrari is known for crappy test drivers: Gene, BADoer, Fisichella plus a long list of useless Italians. Petrov would fit in just fine. That said I'd take Petrov any day over Massa.
Say what you will about Badoer, he was Ferrari's test driver during the Schumacher winning years. Must have been pretty good or they would have released him as test driver a long time ago. Schumacher would not keep him around if he wasn't contributing.
I certainly hear what you're getting at - If he were truly rubbish I'm sure Michael would have arranged his replacement...... However, based on very limited race experience he hardly lit up the track!.... IIRC, didn't he qualify dead last in both his races? Although, neither did Fisi when he got a chance - Maybe, just maybe, Kimi & Phil flattered that car....... Hopefully, their "aggressive strategy" will pay off and we'll see both Fred & Phil out front again soon.... Howls from the peanut gallery to fire everyone from LdM to the floor sweeper do make me chuckle; Who's going to do any better? Cheers, Ian
Probably he was a very decent driver but: #1 A good test driver does not make a good race driver necessarily. #2 His last race before his brief stint at Ferrari in 2009 was... in 1999! TEN years! Schumacher lost his mojo in just 4, and he had a lot more mojo than Badoer. #3 The ban of testing didn´t help him to get into shape. All the odds were against good ole Luca.
+1 bear in mind that at point of time, there were 2 teams; race and test teams. The test teams were providing crucial feedback to the race team. I agree with this post.
He was so BAD that the drivers mentioned their concerns before the race at Spa. No surprise Ferrari pulled the plug on him after a couple of races. BADoer was always BAD. MS did the development testing himself. Guys like BADoer do functional testing of the car. PS: I was at the Valencia GP when BADoer "raced" and went to the Ferrari booth to get a BADoer hat or shirt. They had no clue whom I was talking about...
Me neither. And for this reason, I doubt it will ever happen. I could see Petrov going to Caterham F1.
