Valentino Rossi to F1 in 2007?

Also remember, alot of teams will be running illegal setups, at some point soo its easy to make it look like you are going fast or be "competitive", it is testing afterall.

As speedy_sam pointed out, Mar 12 we will know who is really the teams with title contentions.

 

I fully agree with Eugenio and its comments. I think many of your post do not reflect the appreciation of the gazetta.it and its internal sources. For those of you who understand italian I will refer you to the panorama.it article of Jan 30 which elegantly and machiavellichly summarizes the current dilemmas for the ferrari factory,
Well done Eugenio

 

From http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns16207.html

 

I hope so. Unless Ferrari has again a bad start to the season and comes back with that lame ass excuse they used in 2005: The season starts in Europe. Yeah right.

 

http://crash.net/news_view~t~Schumi--Rossi-good-enough-for-F1-~cid~1~id~124828.htm


Schumi: Rossi good enough for F1.

Multiple world champion Michael Schumacher has underlined Valentino Rossi's maiden F1 test performance by suggesting that the Italian could make the switch from two wheels to four should he so choose.

Having put the embarrassment of a first day spin behind him, and in spite of using a three-litre V10 engine while most of his rivals were running the latest spec 2.4-litre V8s, Rossi posted the ninth fastest time of Wednesday's group session at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo, putting himself ahead of the Ferrari-powered Red Bull car of David Coulthard, amongst others.

While there were obviously factors to be taken into account when judging his performance, Rossi drew applause from the majority of the paddock - and prompted Ferrari 'team-mate' Schumacher to claim that he could make the grade in F1.



"It's completely possible for him," the German, who has just two more top flight world titles to his credit than his younger rival, told France's l'Equipe>/I> newspaper, "If, like Valentino, you have a feeling [for the machine] on two wheels, you can use it perfectly on four wheels. He has enough talent to get there."

 

http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/news_info/news_info_14818_1.htm?menu=news&yearext=2005&categoryext=3&eventext=2767&contentext=news&sectionext=2&riderext=

BIKE mag said his drive in the rain at the 2005 British MotoGP was sheer brilliance.

Rossi just needs a lot of seat time-and no distractions.

We don't know what the legal contracts state (Rossi rides for Yamaha which Toyota owns part of-Toyota is a Ferrari competitor; in addition Bridgestone supplies Ferrari but Michelin supplies Yamaha's MotoGP team) but I'm amazed Rossi got this far.

Having said all that, Rossi should have gotten more seat time over the winter in a V-8 powered car-would have given him more testing miles and allowed him to develop a feel for the V-8 engine, which like it or not is the future of F1.....

 

How old is Rossi, anyway? I got bored searching for a working link. He's obviously a brilliant motorcycle racer, and maybe he could be an F1 driver. But personally I couldn't give two $hits whether he does or not. We've been kicking at this for 2 years now and so far all it's yielded is a spinout on a wet track. I still think this is PR-driven first and foremost, with any potential for a driving position merely icing on Ferrari's and Rossi's respective cakes. Besides his resume as a bike racer and extremely marketable Italian name, Valentino Rossi really has no reason to be testing a Ferrari Formula One car other than he can. Now, I'd NEVER knock anyone for that. But seriously, folks. If Ferrari were really doing this in order to discover a driver from some other form of racing, wouldn't they be plumbing the depths of, say, WRC, DTM or the likes? The racing world is up to its ears with extremely talented 4-wheel racers, thus the fishy smell to me.

 

Tell John Surtees that...I would disagree about the quantity of extremely talented 4-wheel racers too. There are lots of competant ones but the Nuvolari's, Fangio's, Clark's, Lauda's, Prost's, Senna's and Schumacher's are few and far between.

 

Did you try searching on Google?

I found about 2 million links, one should have the info that you need.
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,820,000 for Valentino Rossi. (0.13 seconds)

Just for Grins, I googled Fernando Alonso, the F1 Champion
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,860,000 for Fernando Alonso. (0.27 seconds)

 

Rossi's 26...at least for a bit (born 2/16/79).
Today's results:
http://crash.net/news_View.asp?cid=1&id=124845&pid=1
Leading times (2 February) - Valencia:

1. Fernando Alonso Renault-Renault 1m 10.904s 90 laps M *
2. Jenson Button Honda-Honda 1m 10.907s 85 laps M *
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 11.284s 49 laps B *
4. Anthony Davidson Honda-Honda 1m 11.573s 124 laps M *
5. Michael Schumacher Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 11.649s 42 laps B *
6. Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 1m 11.769s 66 laps M *
7. Heikki Kovalainen Renault-Renault 1m 12.011s 84 laps M *
8. Jacques Villeneuve BMW-Sauber 1m 12.179s 102 laps M *
9. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota 1m 12.192s 82 laps B *
10. Alex Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1m 12.246s 82 laps B
11. Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1m 13.313s 60 laps B *
12. Valentino Rossi Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 12.360s 52 laps B
13. Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1m 12.455s 89 laps M
14. Juan Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1m 12.488s 58 laps M *
15. Jarno Trulli Toyota-Toyota 1m 12.525s 66 laps B *
16. Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber 1m 12.812s 42 laps M

Here's a link to the BBC's Motosport article on Rossi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/4670848.stm. It's brief, but it's worth reading.

 

Today in the last testing session Valentino Rossi posted a best time of 1.12"4 on the detuned V10, while Massa did a 1.12"1 on the F2004 V8 ( he was slighly more then a second slower of MS and the other best drivers). His comments are that he immensely enjoyed the car and that Ferrari is a great team...and he sees great potential for growth...he was very happy with his progress. The chance for him to drive in a Formula one car with Ferrari has greatly increased.

 

Before saying that he is "PR driven", just go and have a look at his palmares. Nobody at his age has won more in the entire motorsport history.
If Ferrari is investing so much money and especially so much invaluable testing time on him, perhaps they see somthing special that justifies the investment.
Your Fchat name is the one of the most amazing pilot ever discovered by Ferrari.
Are you old enough to remember the first reactions of the 95% of specialised press when Enzo personaly imposed to the team this unknown (in Europe at least) snowbike rider? Regrettably I am.
Nobody believed in the "aviator". The rest is history.
I am not saying that Rossi will be such a shining star as Gilles was, as I said before only time will tell.
But for sure the potential is there.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

Link doesn't work for me and a site that is dedicated to Rossi merchandise, well, hmm not sure about its credibility.

Rossi's times are either not comparable or slow. And the fact that Surtees was successful (I believe Damon Hill was a motorcycle guy first as well) is neither here nor there.

OTOH what has Ferrari to loose? They don't have a driver lineup for 2007 and a bit of free PR doesn't hurt.

 

I think that the test proves that a fast motorcyle racer can go fast in a car.
Since I have never seen a car racer go fast on a bike, I think this in turn proves that motorcyle racers are more skilled than car racers.

 

Since msn is my default, I started out there. The first 3 links I got were crap, which is the point where I just pose questions here instead

Ricard--I agree with the spirit of your comment, but if trawling the ranks of motorcycle racers was such a keen idea then we wouldn't have to reach back 40+ years to cite an example of how well it can pan out. And yes, the Nuvo's and Fangio's are few and far between, but with the time and, undoubtedly, money that has gone into Project:Rossi Ferrari could have taken an established car racer or an up-and-comer, like Rosberg or Piquet, and really continue grooming him under their guidance. And to throw out the names of the greats in context with this discussion lends itself to my whole point in that it's very unlikely that he will be the next great. And since he will be 27 this month that also means, by F1 standards, he has just missed his prime years. Because he spent them racing motorcycles and dominating.

Boa--I know what you mean about Gilles. But these days discovering and developing drivers is an entirely different process than back then. So were the demands on the driver. Today, with all of the "start 'em young" driving programs around the world and sporting agents and scouts looking to discover the next big thing, it's a bit more like commercial fishing where you sift through the big net of potential talent, toss out the weak ones one at a time and hopefully end up with a few who, when properly prepared, taste delicious sauteed in butter. Back in the 70s drivers were still much more on their own and had to drive for their lives in hopes of someone noticing them, ala Gilles.