Badoer: « F1 is more fun now »

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer claims that driving a Formula 1 car without driver aids is more enjoyable.

All F1 teams have started their preparations for 2008 with the first day of testing in Barcelona, where drivers began working on their cars without traction control, banned for the next season.

Badoer believes that novice drivers are now facing a greater challenge in trying to push the car to its limits.

« F1 cars had become too easy to drive: if a newcomer joins a team and sets a few good lap times on a circuit, a star is born, » Badoer stated in the columns of Gazzetta dello Sport.

Today, however, they are more difficult to drive: you need a certain sensitivity and certain skills in managing the accelerator.

« Of course, by the end of the winter, we, the drivers that we are, will have at least driven once without traction control and we will see the difference between the good drivers and the others, » he stated.

Yesterday’s tests saw Michael Schumacher return to the center of the action. And after announcing his retirement, the seven-time world champion showed he hadn’t lost any of his speed, finishing the day at the top of the rankings.

Badoer admitted that he was not surprised by the pace set by Schumacher.

I am not surprised, I know him, he is a superhero. Everyone knows he is the best driver in the world, so I don’t see where the surprise lies.

« Räikkönen is very fast, but Schumi in his career has demonstrated something else at another level, » concluded the Italian.