MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi is rumored to be joining Ferrari in Formula One. Rossi known as "The Doctor" in MotoGP has been testing Ferrari F1 cars since 2006.
However, no commitments have been reached between The Doctor and Ferrari F1 management in his participation with Formula One.
However, no commitments have been reached between The Doctor and Ferrari F1 management in his participation with Formula One.
The Italian MotoGP world champion has tried driving a Ferrari F2008 provided by Corse Clienti. It uses GP2 tires and emblazoned with a distinctive number 46 on the nose of the car. He made his test drive at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Results of the test drives were very impressive for a novice open wheel driver like the F1 car. He did 68 laps at Circuit de Catalunya to set his best time of 1'25.200.
Test drives were again made at Valencia on January 31-February 2006. On Rossi's first test, he miscalculated a bend spinning him out on the damp track into the gravel trap to end the drive. On his second day, he recorded the ninth fastest time among fifteen drivers. He was approximately one second behind F1 great Michael Schumacher, who himself registered the third fastest time on the track.
The Doctor has lapped faster than seasoned F1 drivers the likes of Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber and former driver David Coulthard and former Toyota F1's Jarno Trulli. On his final day of testing, the Italian MotoGP champion was a little more than a second behind Schumacher's best record time on the circuit.
Schumacher acknowledged Rossi for his great talent in racing for both motorcycles and open wheel cars. The German believed that Rossi can perfectly transfer from motoGP to Formula One and still competitive.
Rossi has been actively joining some World Rally Cross (WRC) event stages and got impressive wins. In 2005, he was able to race against his rally hero WRC Colin McRae at Monza. He bested McRae in his Subaru Impreza.
In Rally New Zealand in 2006, Rossi was able to finish the event in 11th place out of 39 cars. In the same year, he bested 2005 rally champion Rinaldo Capello on a Ford Focus car at the Annual Monza Rally by 24 seconds. At the 2007 Monza Rally, he was again victorious on a Ford Focus WRC car.
Outgoing Fiat Group Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has repeatedly announced that he wants to have Rossi in one of their Prancing Horse F1 car in the Formula One season.
"We want a third car (in F1 next year) and I would do everything to have Valentino in one of the red car. When he wins this year's MotoGP, enough is enough, he must also win in Formula 1." di Montezemolo said excitedly.
Third cars are at present disallowed to race in F1. However, Ferrari reiterated that it will propose for a rule change in adding a third F1 car on the tracks. This will be a dream come true for both Moto GP and F1 fanatics in seeing Rossi in one of the Ferrari.
With a Ferrari team compose of Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Valentino Rossi, this makes a formidable winning combination of world champions in racing. However, Valentino has something in his mind that might lead to an F1 participation in the future.
"To have a strong team like Yamaha's (in MotoGP), Ferrari should hire Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel alongside Fernando Alonso," Rossi told the La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I would like to explore the possibility of a third car for myself." A statement that made everyone in the racing world perplex on the multi-titled Italian champion career plans in the future.
Rossi is a multiple MotoGP World Champion and motorcycle racer with nine Grand Prix World Championships tucked under his name. He is currently racing for Yamaha in the Moto GP. The Italian champion might be joining Formula One bringing his vast experiences and achievements in both motorcycle and automobile racing.
Do you think The Doctor might get in?
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