Rossi is going F1 racing in 07

Pete, I'm hoping that (for selfish reasons) Rossi remains in MotoGP, and that's what I picked up from that article. As I see it, whether or not Rossi can win in F1 doesn't even matter (although I'll accept the views of those F1 fans who say he can't) because even if he wins in F1, I cannot conceive that Rossi racing F1 will begin to produce the show that his racing MotoGP does (and I don't want to be deprived of that show). It's just too good.

 

Yeah it is ... he is amazing!

Also guys when Scott Dixon tested for Williams (I think) he was right on the times or within 2 seconds on his VERY first test ... and did not get the seat! Money might have been the issue ... but atleast he was fast, unlike Rossi.

Pete

 

Does a MotoGP bike even use the same line as a formula car?
I thought they used a sweeping turn like the 60s and earlier F1 cars.
Nico Rosberg is the next Kimi.

 

Pete

 

If Rossi gets a drive at Ferrari I will laugh.

 

Ferrari want to sell cars. Bottom line.

Winning is usually the best way to do this, but a Rossi factor would also help in the home market, if not world over.

Rossi just doesn't know what downforce is really like yet. With more time, he'll be competitive.

Schuey had been/able to be beaten frequently by Barrichello, so how does he suck Pete.... ,a dnwhen he was at other teams he was a master manipulator with regard to components and personnel.

Rossi will be good enough to be taken seriously, and the whole show will be better if he were there.

 

Really, I can only think of a couple of times myself ... but do admit that team orders probably contrived to make this research impossible. Everybody has their good days, but some make a good day out of a **** car ... notice how MS is way quicker that RB (all year) this year.

RB only got close to MS because we had a couple of years when Ferrari really made a car miles better than anybody else ... and they seemed to be able to set it up perfectly too.

You can tell good drivers by the way they drive bad cars.

MS has 95% of the time been quicker than his team mates ... and while I agree that all good drivers get the team on their side asap, it is only natural for the team to be drawn to a winner. MS was a new boy at Benetton and Jordan and in both cases came away the winner.

I though do agree that MS is way past his prime, I believe that was in the late 90's.


I think the problem with the Rossi thing is that if Ferrari were still building cars that were miles better than everbody else then Rossi would look okay ... but soon the heat will be on him and the team if Ferrari continue to struggle like they currently are ... thus I think 99% of the Tifosi and potential Ferrari buyers would prefer the winning thanks. On a bike Rossi can make a lemon sing ... but so far in a car he has shown not even RB or Irvine ability.
Pete

 

Sure? Remember Melbourne, Nurburgring or Monza.

 

MS may be past his prime but he is still better than 90% of the field.

 

From the Guardian
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/motorcycling/comment/0,,1578898,00.html



'Ferrari is the ultimate challenge for me'
Fresh from his seventh world title, Valentino Rossi reveals that he is ready to swap two wheels for four

Donald McRae Sports feature writer of the year
Tuesday September 27, 2005

Guardian

Valentino Rossi might look like a jaunty urchin who loves a mad-cap life, but his real self is hard to hide. His fidgety giggles at recently being voted the world's 63rd most powerful celebrity on the annual Forbes list - just below Bill Clinton and Maria Sharapova but above Jessica Simpson and Cameron Diaz - are soon replaced by the concentration of an uncompromising racer. Rossi becomes quiet and still as he remembers the first time he swapped his blue Yamaha for a red Ferrari.
In this gripping moment it is possible to understand why the richest players in formula one - from Bernie Ecclestone to Ferrari - believe their stuttering business can be rejuvenated by Rossi. The casual observer might think of him as a clownish bike rider famous for dressing up as Robin Hood on the podium, driving into a trackside Portaloo to relieve himself during a victory lap or engaging in fisticuffs with his bitterest rival Max Biaggi. Yet Rossi is the most compelling figure in motorsport for less bizarre reasons.

Beyond the fact that he is arguably the greatest motorcyclist the world has seen, the 26-year-old Italian has the kind of rare brilliance which could be transferred from his bike to a car. All that Ecclestone and Ferrari need to do now is finally persuade the multiple world champion to commit himself to formula one when his contract with Yamaha expires next year.

Ecclestone began his campaign in September 2002 when he celebrated Rossi's outrageous character and racing genius as the perfect antidote to the bland drivers and tedious machinations of formula one. "We need Valentino Rossi. He's fantastic. If I had a team myself I would get him on board straightaway."

Ferrari have pursued Rossi almost as long - although the Italian's initial test for them, in April 2004, still haunts him. "When I got ready to drive a formula one car for the first time in my life I hear the Ferrari engineers having bets about me. They say if you lap their track at Fiorano in 60 seconds it means you drive the Ferrari quite fast. If you are slower you are not an F1 racer. Most of the engineers bet money I never go under a minute. I keep on smiling but, inside, I want to show them."

Rossi's first morning in a Ferrari was, inevitably, chaotic and discouraging. "I don't like it," he says, his accent rising in animation. "On my bike I feel free. I have a relationship with the bike. But a formula one car feels like a cage where you cannot move. It is not natural. So I spin the Ferrari twice in my first three laps. Then I stall it. Then one engineer, he say, 'Look, to work, this car has to be driven fast. Understand?' But everything is strange. Even the braking is scary because of the downforce. The engineers show me that [Michael] Schumacher uses twice the force in his leg as me when he brakes. And the faster he drives the more stable the car. But I am so slow the car won't go straight. The tyres can't even reach the right temperature."

His mood plummeted further that lunchtime. Over a bowl of pasta, with his gaze fixed on a television in an attempt to avoid the smirking faces, Rossi almost choked as the national news began. "The big story on Italian TV is me testing for Ferrari. I go outside and see a crowd at the gates. It's not good."

The king of Ferrari, Schumacher himself, arrived to watch the charade. The German driver and the Italian biker could not have looked more dissimilar as they posed awkwardly for photographers. "We did not talk about testing," Rossi says of Schumacher, "but I go out again late that afternoon. It is after five and the track is getting dark. I like this. When I am not racing I am light and sunny. But on the track I am dark and aggressive. The Ferrari and me go faster and faster. Then comes my last lap - 59.1 seconds. A lot of people lost their money."

Rossi tested again at Fiorano two months ago. "This time is much better. 57.5 . . ."

For Ross Brawn, Ferrari's technical director, "Rossi was quick, which came as no surprise, but what pleased us more was his understanding of the car's set-up and his intelligent analysis of its handling and balance. It was highly encouraging." Brawn recently suggested a testing schedule had been arranged for next year - with Rossi to drive the Ferrari every month. "Bull****," Rossi protested. "How do Ferrari know what I'm doing next year when I don't know what I'm doing next week?"

In a more relaxed setting, however, he concedes the great lure of Ferrari. "For sure it is the ultimate challenge for me - a crazy challenge." Rossi says that last phrase with such delight it sounds as if he is falling for the red car. "Maybe. But I have to decide what is best."

Having clinched his fifth successive MotoGP world championship on Sunday in Malaysia - a mighty 122 points clear of second-placed Biaggi - Rossi admits his motivation is waning. "I have won on Honda and Yamaha so maybe it is interesting to win with a third team, Ducati, who are Italian. But I could also start F1 or rallying. I love rallying much more."

A world champion seven times in classes ranging from 125cc to MotoGP, Rossi always needs "something different". And so the sheer lunacy of moving from two wheels to four appeals most to him. "I do crazy things - like moving from Honda to Yamaha. Before that everyone thinks you must ride Honda to become world champion. Yamaha had not won the championship for a very long time.

"Davide Brivio [Yamaha's Italian team director] was the only one who thought I am crazy enough to leave Honda. No one else in Yamaha believes him. But I like his idea. With Brivio I see the two top Japanese men at Yamaha at a secret meeting. I tell them I am serious about coming - but the number two man falls asleep in the middle of our meeting. I am worried now!

"The others tell me the Japanese man is not used to staying up late at night. OK. But as soon as I sit on the Yamaha I know it is quite bad. It is nowhere near the level of the Honda which is much more logical. But I like the joke one Japanese engineer tells me when I look at Yamaha's dashboard. He says, 'We make it that big so you can watch a DVD while you race.' This is the spirit of Yamaha! I decide then to leave Honda. I also want to prove the rider is more important than the team."

Informing Yamaha that he would ride for them from the start of the 2004 season, Rossi insisted, in an echo of Jose Mourinho's cocky assurance, that they should prepare themselves not only to win the championship - but win their very first race together. "They are shocked! They think it is impossible but I say we do it. And so the day we did that in South Africa, when I won my first race on a Yamaha, changed motorcycling forever. I showed Honda could be beaten. Afterwards I sat on the side of the track with my helmet on. My shoulders were shaking and people thought I was crying. But I was laughing at my craziness."

They now say that there are three sporting passions in Italy: football, Ferrari and Rossi. Should the last two become one then the craziness will be positively frightening. This season's disenchantment with formula one - the attendance at the Italian grand prix in August was down by 25% - would be swept aside by national euphoria. There is already an unrealistic belief that Rossi could eventually become the first Italian since Alberto Ascari, in 1953, to win the world championship in a Ferrari. That fervour makes formula one an unsettling prospect for Rossi.

"It is hard for people in London [where he lives] to understand. I walk around here and I am not recognised much. It's beautiful. The rest of the world is difficult. People chase me. But Italy is the hardest. I go home to see my family but I cannot stay more than three days. There is too much pressure. I don't like being famous - it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse. It is a big problem and so I don't know for sure if I say yes or no to Ferrari."

Rossi hesitates when asked to reveal his gut-instinct. "Now," he shrugs, "I think no." It is ultimately a stupid question - for he could hardly be expected to make his life instantly hellish by offering an emphatic "yes" on tape. Yet Rossi cannot help himself when considering how much formula one needs him. "It is boring . . . none of the drivers are interesting."

He is pointedly silent when invited to identify the most talented racer on the grid. "Raikkonen is not so bad," he finally says. A grin stretches across Rossi's face as he thinks about the man whom, it is rumoured, Ferrari have earmarked as Schumacher's replacement and his own future team-mate. "Kimi sounded very boring in interviews but when I heard he goes to lap-dancing clubs I think, ah, maybe he is more interesting than the others."

Rossi laughs suddenly at the prospect of him and Kimi tearing it up on and off the track. And then, just as abruptly, he becomes almost sombre as he faces up to the stark choice he will soon make. "I don't know what to do. But Ferrari is possible. If I test the car for a year I can be quite competitive the next season."

Rossi looks at me with a searing stare when I ask what he means by "quite competitive". And then the words come quick and sure - with the quietness of his voice underlining his cold hard focus as a racer. "It means winning. I race to win. If I am on the bike or in a car it will always be the same."

Valentino Rossi: The Autobiography, The Life Story of the World's Greatest Motorcycle Rider, is published in hardback by Century at £18.99. To order a copy for £17.99 with free UK p&p go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call the Guardian book service on 0870 836 0875

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

 

Perhaps you can pm him directly. See the last page of this thread http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54214

 

I just wished it was him, doubt it though.
I just read all his post and they are to flat for a foreigner.
Like "da" instead of the etc.

 

whatever rossi does he will remain one of my true heroes, If he goes to ferrari and wins the championship, i think the italian president should be worried, coz if he can do that...... he can do anything he likes.

that interview is different, i enjoy reading but if i had to choose to read a interview of rossi or anf F1 driver, the rossi interview would win every time.

A bit of trivia for you.... What does WLF on rossi's leather stand for?

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WLF= italian slang for VIVA LA FIGA. ( go the pu55y )

 

The Red Bull boss is interested in Rossi as well and joking said, that if they'd hire him, there'd be only one letter difference between their drink and driver:
Rosso Toro

 

has anyone seen or heard anything about the speculation that rossi was supposed to test the ferrar again this week?

 

what a ray of light in a tunnel of darkness.GO ROSSI,JUST DO IT!

 

Rossi testing again.

 

Waddayamean "only" 2 seconds off?

A track where a lap is under a minute, this is an eternity! On a big track like Spa, he'd be 4 seconds off. Probably even more as Fiorano is a relatively simple track. That time difference would have put him right between the Minardis and the Jordan. At the end of the grid.

Rossi is way over hyped as a F1 successor and quite frankly I don't understand why the Scuderia keeps letting him drive the car. There are so many faster F1 drivers out there. I don't get it.

 

I don't get it either. I think they're letting him cut his teeth so to speak beacuse of his racing acumen only. But still for someone who's driven an F1 car only a handful of times that ain't bad.


But if he was driving a V8 car ?

 

He certainly isn't bad. But he is no prodigy on 4 F1 wheels. And there are many people who could move that thing faster.

Also realize, that (as discussed in another thread) today's F1 cars are relatively simple to drive fast. They only get really hard and difficult in the last 10 10ths. And given his times he is not touching that level yet.

Personally I couldn't care less whether he spends all day in a Ferrari F1. More power to him. What bothers me is, that the Scuderia is supporting this and so I start to wonder: They have all the data and know he sucks and is a hopeless case. But they keep let him drive the car. Does that mean, that they anticipate their 2006/2007/xxx cars are going to suck and so it doesn't matter whether a monkey rides them. Have they given up all hope already?

I hope not and rather pick the theory that this is all a big publicity stunt to feed the Italian press until Schumi and his successors strike again.

 

Ding, ding, ding!!!

I think it's a publicity stunt also.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/4426490.stm

 

In fact it's quite simple, nobody has the charism he has.
Besides that I cannot believe that you think that he won't become a steady winner.
I've followed him closely the last 8 years, you'll see. A pity we can't place bets.
;- )