Luca Badoer is preparing for his Ferrari F1 debut this weekend. From top to bottom: Testing for the Scuderia at Fiorano; on his way to the F3000 championship title in 1992; and racing for the Minardi team in F1 during 1995.

While Ferrari reports that Felipe Massa's recovery is going very well the Scuderia also announces that stand-in driver Luca Badoer will get behind the wheel of the F60 at Fiorano today as he prepares for his Prancing Horse debut when the track action gets underway Valencia in just four days time. It is a contrast with Michael Schumacher who was denied the opportunity to test this year's F60 single-seater, instead having to make do with getting behind the wheel of a two-year-old F2007 fitted with GP2 series tyres at Mugello. However it seems Ferrari has secured permission for Badoer to get some experience of the F60, a car he has never driven, albeit under the guise of making a promotional video. According to a statement posted on ferrari.com, the Scuderia says that today and tomorrow "Badoer will be part of a video shooting for promotional purposes behind the F60’s wheel at the Fiorano race track." The statement also says that Badoer will drive for a second consecutive grand prix when F1 moves onto Spa.

"Felipe is in excellent form and his recovery is going very well!” These is the latest news on Felipe Massa’s health directly from Brazil given by Stefano Domenicali. The Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal visited the Brazilian driver in Sao Paulo yesterday. "I’m very happy about Felipe’s state,” Domenicali told ferrari.com over the phone. Massa was injured when a spring dislodged itself from a competitor's car, during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 25, and bounced up, dramatically hitting Massa on the front of the helmet. "The medical checks, which have been carried out over the last two weeks continue to be very encouraging. Now it’s important to be patient and take one step at a time, without any hurry," added Domenicali.

While Massa is recovering in Brazil, tomorrow the Scuderia will resume its work after a two-week break, which had been agreed with the other teams. Over the next three days the team will concentrate on the preparations for the grands prix in Spain and Belgium, which will be held on the last two weekends of August. Alongside Kimi Raikkonen, Luca Badoer will start the races, making his debut as an official Scuderia driver after joining the Italian team in 1997.

For Badoer driving at Valencia this coming weekend is an opportunity that only presented itself last week when Michael Schumacher scrapped his sensational comeback plans after a niggling neck problem, which resulted from an injury he got back in February during a Superbike, test halted his plans to return. Now 38 years old Badoer, who has been a test driver for the Scuderia for 12 years, won the F3000 championship in 1992 before graduating to F1 with BMS Scuderia Italia the next year, starting his career off in the top flight at the South African Grand Prix. He subsequently drove for the Minardi and Forti Corse teams before his time in F1 petered out at the end of the 1999 season after 48 grand prix starts that yielded no points finishes.