McLaren had been watching Brando Badoer for a year, and now the team has taken the son of ex-driver Luca Badoer into its junior team
Will the next son of a former Formula 1 driver be coming to the premier class soon? McLaren has finally accepted Brando Badoer into its junior program after securing an option on the 18-year-old Italian last year. After twelve months of evaluation, the decision has now been made to accept Badoer into the academy.
“It’s great to welcome Brando to our driver development program,” says Stephanie Carlin, head of the junior program.
“We’ve been keeping a close eye on him for the past year and were impressed by his rookie performance in the competitive Formula Regional championship. So it made sense to exercise our option and bring him into the full-time program.”
Badoer began his single-seater career in 2022, progressing through Formula 4 to the Formula Regional Middle East championship, where he claimed three podiums from 15 races. He is fifth in the European version of the championship with seven podiums from 12 races with one weekend remaining.
2025 Formula 3 with Prema
His program for the coming year is already set: he will move up to Formula 3 in 2025 and drive for the Prema team there together with McLaren junior colleague Ugo Ugochukwu.
“I’m very pleased to be joining the McLaren Driver Development Program,” he says. ”It’s a fantastic opportunity to join a team with such a great racing tradition and a proven track record in developing talent.”
“Competing in the 2025 Formula 3 Championship with Prema will help me develop and I would like to thank the entire McLaren team for their support,” said the Italian. ‘I can’t wait to learn from the team’s leadership and race in the team’s iconic colors.’
Father Luca holds a Formula 1 record
The name Badoer is not unknown in Formula 1, because father Luca Badoer holds a record in the premier class – albeit a rather inglorious one. With 50 Grand Prix starts, he has the most starts of any driver without ever having scored a point.
However, between 1993 and 1999, he always drove for teams that were not competitive, with Scuderia Italia, Forti and Minardi. Nevertheless, he almost caused a sensation at the Nürburgring in 1999 when he was in fourth place for Minardi with just a few laps to go when his gearbox packed up.
In his later years, Badoer was effectively the senior test driver for Ferrari, laying the foundation for Michael Schumacher’s successes in the early 2000s with thousands of test kilometers.
In 2009, he received an unexpected opportunity from Scuderia in thanks for his work, and was allowed to replace Felipe Massa after his serious accident in Hungary. However, his return to the Grand Prix after ten years turned into a debacle.
In both Valencia and Spa-Francorchamps, he only qualified in last place and, after finishing in 17th and 14th place, was taken out of the car again and replaced by his compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella.