Veteran driver Luca Badoer is believed to leave Ferrari after a decade of service as the official test driver for the legendary Italian F1 team.Leaving Minardi in 1999, Badoer accumulated more than 130,000 kilometres at the Mugello and Fiorano test circuits and is credited with making a vital contribution to Ferrari's dominant era in the early 00s, with Michael Schumacher scoring the first world championship for Ferrari after 21 years.
The Italian got his big racing break with Ferrari when he replaced the injured Felipe Massa in the Brazilian's race cockpit in the middle of 2009, becoming the oldest driver on the F1 grid. But he was heavily criticised for his lack of pace and made way for another Italian veteran, Giancarlo Fisichella.
Ferrari announced that Jules Bianchi had been signed as a the team's test driver for 2011 and Autosprint revealed that Badoer has been estimated as a surplus towith Fisichella and Marc Gene also contracted to test roles.
The magazine also announced that his last laps in a Ferrari F1 car were during the team's recent end of season celebrations in Valencia when he reacquainted with the F60 he raced three times in 2009.
Badoer also raced 58 other times for minor Italian teams throughout the 90s.
Many believe that Badoer's exit actually will mean the inauguration of the new "Alonso" era in Ferrari as the Spanish champion is trying to establish himself as the new leader of Italian team building the team around him. Rumours insist that even Flavio Briatore, Alonso's racing mentor could replace Stefano Domenicalli as Ferrari's Team manager in the forthcoming years.
