Valentino Rossi to F1 in 2007?

There is already a thread mentioning that Rossi will be doing an official public Ferrari F1 test amongst other cars on the track, but I have not seen a mention that addresses Rossi's sincere quest to be in F1 in 2007.

Now Scuderia Ferrari has made it very clear that they are interested in him, however they also said that he would need to do extensive factory test sessions before he made it on the team.

I don't see this happening in 2007 since he has to race MotoGP in 2006 per his contract.

However, Rossi is a very determined and very talented young man so I am wondering if any of you think it is possible that a lesser team will pick him up for say, one season?

Rossi has an absolutely huge fan base in MotoGP (I'm one of them), which goes without saying because the kid has won World Championship in every class he has raced in without missing a year, so him switching over to F1 could have a very interesting resurgance of fans.

Just a thought. Let me know what you guys think.

Alexander

 

Well if I was a sponsor or shareholder, I would be pulling out the moment I heard he had a ride!

 

I think Rossi will never join F1.

But I find it weird when Jean Todt says " Firstly, we are going to have to be sure that he wants to do it. Then, we are going to have an availability within the team."

He does not even mention his speed. Maybe Rossi is already up to speed but no one knows except the Ferrari team. The Fiorano laptimes that were published are maybe wrong.

This week we will know for sure if he's fast (has potential) or not once and for all.

 

Hawthorn.

 

If it looked like his times were competitive, then it would be the biggest thing in F1 for a long, long time.

 

Why exactly?

Bill in Brooklyn

 

I'm curious as to why you say that?

 

He is a rider not a driver....The company last year showed a lack of heart, the last thing they need is a car out every race. He might be "competitive" against the clock(wasn't he like 3 seconds off?), but get him in with 19 other drivers and I have a feeling we will have another Montoya on our hands!(haha)

 

I think he is a lot better than JPM. He will realize how dangerous it can be to make the same moves he makes in moto GP.

 

Lol, you gotta be kidding, he hasn't even driven an F1 race. He's not better than anybody yet, much less JPM. Right now i'd bet Massa is quite a bit faster than Rossi is. All the speculation and going somewhat quickly in a closed test (2 seconds slower than Ms in the exact same car isn't that fast, most of his teammates were only a few tenths off of MS. At 2 secs they'd be getting thier butts handed to them) doesn't mean shyte if you can't, one, pass other cars, two, go faster than your teammate, and three, be consistent and put in the work that it takes to be a winner in F1. He hasn't proven that he can or even wants to do ANY of these things yet. He probably isn't even race fit yet. Hailwood was the one exception to the rule but he was only moderately successful in F1. There have been a few that tried the switch and it didn't go too well, Eddie Lawson, Barry Sheene, and Wayne Gardner come to mind. I have no doubt that Rossi is an extraordinary talent on a bike. What I do doubt is that it can be translated to F1 to the point that he'd become world champ. Even Damon Hill who was a successfull bike racer and became F1 champion had certain shortcomings as a driver. I'm pretty sure Rossi will as well. John Surtees was the only one to be a world champ on two wheels and four and i think that record will never be duplicated.

 

i just hope rossi will never make it into F1. it'll just hurt the scuderia's title hopes, just a wild guess. like u pointed out, he;s a rider, not a driver. something's telling me if he really drives, he won;t be doing good. justa wild guess tho...

 

Just a couple of rumors circling on Italian press.
First it is not true that Rossi was 2 sec slower than MS. He was much, much closer than that.
Ferrari telemetry was able to confirm that on most difficult spots he was AS FAST AS MS.
We will never know the weight and set up of the car used in Fiorano. It seems that even this time Ferrari will be hiding the real results of the car only letting Rossi drive an hybrid machine.
As I am a huge MotoGP fan (far, far more exciting than F1 in the last period), I hope that Rossi will stay where he is.
Reason for that is Rossi is half the reason MotoGP is great. He is almost super human when riding. Sponsors are attracted to MotoGP mainly because Valentino is there. if he quits, interest and overall visibility will decrease substantially.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

How do you know?

2 seconds was what was officially mentioned in all the press bulletins. And that is HUGE given how short Fiorano is.

 

Yes, i'd like to know this too, 2 seconds is pretty much the number i keep hearing.

 

Well, here's a link to his latest excursion: http://crash.net/news_view.asp?t=Rossi-spins-out-on-opening-lap-&cid=6&id=124761

 

1) Rossi started out as a car driver, switched to bikes because it was cheaper.

2) He would definately have the fitness and determination for F1 if required.

3) Yamaha dropped Gauloise and got the Camal money because Rossi wanted to test as much as possible for a Marlboro backed team (ie Ferrari) and Camal agreed it was OK whereas Gauloise complained.

4) The only challenge left for Rossi is to "do a Surtees".

Personally I think Rossi leaving motogp would reverse the series populairty rise in the last 6 years which would be a shame. BUT I would hate to see him hurt and it'll happen sooner or later on a 'bike. The only question is his speed, I cant see him racing for anyone other than Ferrari and they will only run him if he is quick enough (they dont need the publicity).

The only people who will know if he is quick enough is Ferrari as they know what car they give him and see the data, time will tell.

 

haha....They eat it up!

 

Gazzetta dello Sport is the most serious sport newspaper in Italy. They issued the quotes that i am referring. As a matter of fact these are just rumors, but coming from a usually very well informed source.
Anyway under the rain Rossi spun off, so we just have to wait and see.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

He started out as a car racer but how much success did he have? From what I understand he's more interested in rallying than F1. It also remains to be seen if he can get fit to F1 standards. A moto GP race is not as long as an F1 race therefor the fitness level is different. He hasn't said that he's going or not going to do it yet, or if he even wants to. He might have the determination but if he does he hasn't exposed it yet.

 

Again, just to clarify...
Rossi was racing just go kart and only very, very early in his career. I guess that that experience does not count a lot.
He attended to a number of rally event. Last year he defeated Colin McRae in a two day event in Monza (not bad). That means, at least, that he has a good control even on 4 wheels.
As far as "fitness" is concerned, you cannot be serious. Driving a MotoGP is by far more demanding than driving a F1 car. Mr MS (again) said he was really surprised by the amount of effort required when he tested a Ducati last year.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

So what you are trying to tell me is that riding a MotoGo bike for 20 to 30 laps, 110 to 120 kms is "by far more demanding" than driving an F1 car for a full race distance of 300km or two hours? You gotta be kidding me. While I don't doubt that it takes a considerable amount of effort to ride MotoGP, just by race distance alone MotoGP does not compare to the actually time spent racing in F1, not to mention qualifiying and practice. But this wasn't even my point. The muscles used in F1 racing are more than likely not the same as in MotoGP. To think that Valentino will be able to just jump right in and not have to get himself F1 fit is ridiculous. It has been said many times before. Nothing will get you race fit other than being in the car.

Regards,
Luis

 

Yes, I consider more demanding driving a MotoGP than a F1. I have never driven a F1, neither a MotoGP. The only fact is that Rossi tested the F1 for 300 km in a single day (the minimum required distance to get the Super Licence) and had no problems at all.
Just to give you an idea, Pedroso (250cc world champion) spend two full months in the gym because he realised that driving a MotoGP is physically so much more demanding than any other bike that he was able to give 100% for a very limited period (no more than 5 laps). Then he got too tired.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

He completed 80 laps but there is no mention of if he stopped in between sessions, did a full race session or what. To do 80 laps in one day is one thing, to do it for two hours straight with no real rest other than pitstops, another completely. The example you use with Pedroso while a valid one doesn't really apply because he was moving up in classes and had been on bikes the whole time. Who knows if he had even bothered to get fit in the first place. While i believe that MotoGP might be way harder on your arms than F1 there is no way that it's harder on the neck than F1. Rossi will have to get into shape before getting into the car seriously. Also the laptimes were only stated as being 3 sec off Ms, which is not so good, but it doesn't say if it was late in the session or early. We have no way of knowning if his time dropped off because of fatigue.

 

I do agree with just one thing. Lateral acceleration on the neck is by far more perceivable in an F1. But for all the rest, I think that MotoGP riding is again more demanding.
By the way, only the time will tell
I still hope that Rossi will not shift to F1. It is such a fantastic show to see him driving a race bike.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

On a side note, for those who still have a doubt about the impact Rossi could have on F1.
On the test in Valencia today, more than 40.000 people are attending the event.
Never ever such a crowd was present to private test.
Ciao
Eugenio