Rossi - Ferrari Owners' Club

27.1.2006

Occasionally I get a bit bored by the constant stream of stories about MotoGP star Valentino Rossi's possible future relationship or not with F1 in general and Ferrari in particular. Don't get me wrong, I think the bloke is an absolute genius on two wheels and watching his performances last year in MotoGP gave me more excitement than almost all of the F1 GPs. I'd love him to come into F1 and set a few of its complacent prima donnas on their overpaid ears, but I've had enough of all the "will he won't he" talk and the most incredible 'Management Speak' the saga has generated. I think it's time we found out how quick he really is.

Therefore, it was with great relief that I learned he is going to test with other drivers for the first time in Valencia next week when he will (bravely) join the Scuderia for a general F1 test. An interesting article in The Times Online picked up that this was highly significant since Ferrari will be able to measure him against other drivers, but I would respectfully suggest they got the wrong reason. The Times piece says that Ferrari will be able to see how Rossi performs "when there are other 200mph rivals around him" and "what Ferrari do not know yet is how well Rossi, 26, can adapt the racecraft he displays so brilliantly on two wheels to Formula One".

I would be very surprised if Rossi cannot cope with traffic, and Ferrari are unlikely to find out anything about Rossi's four wheel racecraft since that sort of thing tends to be frowned upon in testing. What Ferrari (and we) might learn is how quick he is compared with Schuey and Massa IF the comparison is made from a meaningful basis i.e. number of laps, tyres, fuel, set-up, instructions etc etc. Let us hope that it is and that Rossi is raving quick, but the hoary old cliche about "if" being the biggest word in motor racing kicks in here. As for racecraft, we'll just have to wait until Valentino actually competes in a car race....

The Times piece also says:

"The test will raise the level of intrigue surrounding Ferrari’s future driver line-up. Schumacher still has no contract beyond the end of this season and constantly repeats that he has not decided whether he is staying in Formula One or retiring. Ferrari say the choice is Schumacher’s but the reality is that they must start thinking about the 2007 team soon before the best drivers are snapped up. They have already allowed Fernando Alonso to escape to McLaren Mercedes, deepening suspicions that Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren’s present star, has already committed himself to the Scuderia, which would mean the end of Schumacher at Ferrari. But a partnership of the swashbuckling Rossi and the incredibly fast Räikkönen would be Formula One’s dream team."

This seems spot-on to me and I can't help but wonder whether the "dream team" scenario might have prompted Bernie to chuck a few quid into pot to help pay for Rossi's tests! Meantime, looking forward to this season, let us hope that Ron Dennis's action in signing Alonso has destabilised at least two of Ferrari's major rivals, the Renault team and his own.

Forza Ferrari!