Hapless Badoer in defiant mood

Under-fire Ferrari driver Luca Badoer has promised to emerge stronger from his European Grand Prix tribulations.

The Italian, promoted from his role as the Scuderia's test driver to replace the injured Felipe Massa, struggled throughout what has been a character-building weekend on the hot streets of Valencia.

Friday's practice days saw Badoer hit with fines totalling 5,400 euros and a reprimand for breaking the pit lane speed limit four times, while in qualifying yesterday the 38-year-old finished dead last, 1.5 seconds off the pace of the next slowest car.

Race day today did not get much better. Despite vaulting past six cars off the start thanks to Ferrari's KERS powerboost system, Badoer slipped back into the clutches of his rivals, and finished 17th and last of the drivers on track at the chequered flag.

A drive-through penalty for crossing the pit exit line after one of his stops added further insult to injury, as did the fact that his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished third.

"They have been very hard days, but this was the expectation for me," said Badoer, who has not driven an F1 car in anger for over half a year due to the in-season testing ban, and was contesting his first grand prix weekend since 1999.

"It was a tough race. Formula One is very different from 10 years ago. It's tougher in terms of the pressure to not make any mistakes.

"The priority was to finish the race so that we can have more luck and confidence with the car."

While Badoer is in no danger of winning a race any time soon, he has at least won over a few members of the F1 paddock with the good grace and charm he has shown in the face of a trying weekend.

Ferrari's bosses also appear supportive of their long-term test driver, and Badoer is determined to repay that faith with an improved showing at the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend.

"This weekend I improved a lot, and in Spa I think I will be much better," he said. "I don't know how much better - we will see. But for sure I will have a better feeling with the car, with the team, with the track, with everything.

"It will be much better, I promise you."

Raikkonen, meanwhile, declared himself delighted after singled-handedly doing his bit to defend Ferrari's third place in the constructors' championship with his second successive podium.

"I am happy about this result," he said. "On Friday we saw that the car was pretty competitive over a distance and we therefore thought we could fight for a podium finish.

"Now we go to Spa, a track that I like a lot. At this point in the season, if we manage to get everything right, then we can aim for a podium and if anything was to happen to those ahead of us, we can try and do even better."

Source: ESPN