Rossi in F1?

[phantomfocus]

Photo F1-Live.com
Rossi to make the jump?
Valentino Rossi can do things on two wheels that only his rivals can dream of. With six championships already to his credit, the Italian Moto GP rider has little left to prove in the series.

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport Yamaha team boss Davide Brivio stated that Rossi will extend his current contract another season taking him to the end of 2006 and will then try his hand at Formula One. "We have already agreed on a one-year contract and we know that from 2007 he will be in Formula One," Brivio said.

Rossi has long stated that his wish to try something new at some point in his career and admits that at the end of 2006 he will look at what offers he has and then make a decision. Previously Rossi tested with Ferrari at Fiorano but according the Rossi, Ferrari is not the only team that could be interested in his services.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

We all saw where he drove the Ferrari last year, and did it very well. But this was the most solid news I had heard on the topic since. I personally am a fan of Rossi entering F1. He has more than proved himself on two wheels and I would love to see him go at it on four! :)

Here's another article
www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/25/1095961909687.html?from=storylhs

[gucom]

yeah it'd be great, he's guaranteed to bring more excitement to F1, both on and off the track (he's a wacko, in a good way :P )

[mindgam3]

There's a big article in this months F1 magazine: It says Red Bull are looking to sign both Rossi and Michael Schumacher within the next few years. Given Red Bulls not deep pockets and Fiats poorer financial situation, it could be on ;)

[|Nuno|]

Hehe, should be fun to watch. Tough I don't expect him to be fast...

[|Nuno|]

i think there is alot of hype going on about him. sure he test drove the Ferrari and put up a decent time. but how good is he going to be through out a whole season in the cockpit of a car?? 2 very different scenes.

Exacly. If I remember correctly he was about 3-4 seconds slower than Fiorano's lap record. Thing is: under the same circunstances, any at least decent Formula[insert series here] would be alot faster...

But ya never know, he could surprise us...

[mindgam3]

i think there is alot of hype going on about him. sure he test drove the Ferrari and put up a decent time. but how good is he going to be through out a whole season in the cockpit of a car?? 2 very different scenes.

Exacly. If I remember correctly he was about 3-4 seconds slower than Fiorano's lap record. Thing is: under the same circunstances, any at least decent Formula[insert series here] would be alot faster...

But ya never know, he could surprise us...

But then again, he only had about 10 laps at the most in the car ;)

[|Nuno|]

i think there is alot of hype going on about him. sure he test drove the Ferrari and put up a decent time. but how good is he going to be through out a whole season in the cockpit of a car?? 2 very different scenes.

Exacly. If I remember correctly he was about 3-4 seconds slower than Fiorano's lap record. Thing is: under the same circunstances, any at least decent Formula[insert series here] would be alot faster...

But ya never know, he could surprise us...

But then again, he only had about 10 laps at the most in the car ;)

More like 20 (not 100% sure tough) but still, wouldn't be impressive if compared to a professional racing driver. Hell, even one NASCAR guy pulled a time "only" 2 or 3 seconds off Indianapolis pole in a Williams, a couple of years ago (and they only turn left). :P

But of course that with more practise he would improve. But will it be enough for him to be competitive...? Meh, I'll wait and see.

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

I do see quite a likely idea if Rossi decides to drive a Formula 1 car, since IMO the technique of driving a MotoGP motorbike is not very different from the formula 1;

In addition there are some relevant former motorbike champions such as Wayne Gardner who have made success in the racetrack in four wheels; furthermore, we dont have to forget John Surtees who was first a motorbike world champion and afterwords he decided to try the formula 1 and he became a formula 1 champion

On the other hand i cant imagine MS driving a non ferrari car in the future for some reasons

[mindgam3]

i think there is alot of hype going on about him. sure he test drove the Ferrari and put up a decent time. but how good is he going to be through out a whole season in the cockpit of a car?? 2 very different scenes.

Exacly. If I remember correctly he was about 3-4 seconds slower than Fiorano's lap record. Thing is: under the same circunstances, any at least decent Formula[insert series here] would be alot faster...

But ya never know, he could surprise us...

But then again, he only had about 10 laps at the most in the car ;)


so you think Rossi can handle F1 pretty easily??

then does that mean MS can go to motogp and win to??

Whos knows, I wasn't stating he was going to be good, just the fact he only had 10 or so laps in a car and got within reasonable time of schumachers laps.

I think its a lot harder to go from F1 to MotoGP than vice versa but there ya go.

Can't remember who it was but a MotoGP+F1 championship combo has been held by the same person before, so its not impossible ;)

[phantomfocus]

Getting back to Rossi's time in the Ferrari, I do think that he drove the car that was a year old. So you could expect some time loss there. I also tend to think that it seems to be an easier transtion from bikes to cars. There have been several people try it from cars to bikes and I don't remember any of them doing all that great.

[stradale]

Can't remember who it was but a MotoGP+F1 championship combo has been held by the same person before, so its not impossible ;)

Look a few posts higher, at Ford Capri 2.8's post: John Surtees.

I really don't know what to expect from Rossi on four wheels, but one thing is for sure. He is the most gifted motorbike racer around today. Of all the riders he is most likely to succeed.

Don't get hung up on the little test he did with Ferrari. If a team is serious about hiring Rossi as a driver he needs to develop his skills and train and test a lot. His progress can be assessed and only after that something meaningful can be said about his chances in F1 or any other four-wheeled motorsport.

[szumszer]

3-4 seconds slower, that should put him in the lower half of F1 drivers, but he probably had little time and no way to adjust the car, perhaps he could do better with more time, but I don't think anyone can expect him to go from motogp champ to F1 champ overnight, frankly it is highly unlikely that he will be more than an average F1 driver at best, but who knows may be he will get lucky and win a race his first season ... schumi, that would be interesting to see him somewhere else than ferrari, I cannot imagine it ... but it is possible, frankly it would be interesting to see if he could be competitive driving for an average team, but I don't think schumi would do this, if he is not competing for F1 championship, he most likely will retire

[phantomfocus]

Now the Yamaha team boss calims he was misquoted.
Here is the article.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32828