Slippitygibbet: Ferrari stand in driver, Luca Badoer is still racing at the Valencia street circuit, oblivious to the end of the race after officials forgot to show him the chequered flag, it emerged today.
Badoer trapped here until further notice
It is alleged that the Ferrari driver either missed or failed to be shown the eponymous end-of-race banner and consequently continued to lap the Spanish track well into the night and beyond, believing it was his solemn duty to repay the misguided faith the Scuderia had shown him by continuing to drive round in circles until they told him otherwise.
Unfortunately for the Italian, it appears unlikely that his stint will end any time soon as the team, following celebrations surrounding Kimi Raikkonen’s podium, forgot about their loyal test driver of 10 years service, packed up everything and flew back to Maranello leaving him to continue pounding round the track as the sun set, oblivious to the lack of competition and emptying grandstands.
Refuelling using a local Shell garage and filling up on Ginsters pastys and scotch eggs, the ex-F3000 champ is thought to be able to continue indefinitely or when Ferrari finally remember they’re a car short and tell him to stop, whichever comes first.
Refuelling: Badoer heading for Belgium on just this, travel sweets and Red Bull
“It’s one way of him getting the laps in”, one insider said, “you never know, he may even be alright at Spa but it’s dragging on a bit so I think they’ll just tell him to take the 3rd exit at the roundabout and just go straight there. He can probably get a map at the garage.”
It is thought that Michael Schumacher is probably still softly crying himself to sleep.
