Rossi to test in Ferrari

[vatuloa]

Valentino Rossi is to test drive a Ferrari given Yamaha have reported offered him $17.5m to ride for them next year it will be an expensive test. He has driven before in the PEUGEOT Rally Car

From Fox sports

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23770,00.html

[Adam43]

Lets hope we here more of this and it is arranged and he has a go. Even if it is just for fun. I wonder if he will be released from his chains?

[Super Tourer]

Love to see this happen and see Rossi do a 'Surtees'. He's certainly young enough and got the temperament to win World championships.

Maybe an initial test will convince Ferrari (or another team) to give him a few more serious runs.

[BootsOntheSide]

I'm looking forward to seeing this, Valentino could easily be good enoguh for F1 in a couple of years, and his personality and temprament could be ideal - he strikes me as the best bits of Michael, Montoya and Kimi all rolled into one on that level.

I've seen one report suggesting that Marlboro are behind this, adn it's related to Ducati's efforts to sign him, btu whoever wrote that obviously did their research about as well as the Italian TV presenter who asked gay singer Will Young how he felt to be surrounded by allt eh beautiful girls at a Miss Italia pageant - Vale refuses to race with tobacco sponsorship on ethical grounds

[ljakse]

I'd like to see him trying, but only if he is given more than few laps, as those promotions usually go. I mean, give him the tm eto explore a car a bit, not just make him sit in a car and crash it while trying to make a good lap time.

P.S. Isn't it great to see that a spelling mistake is something 'normal' :

from Foxsports.news.com:

Speaking the day after Ferrai ...

[climb]

Frankly speaking, IMO twas just a made-in-Ialy marketing operation by Montezemolo: both won the WDC on the same day, both are italian symbols in the world, it was like a a way to link the two situations, taking profit of Vale/Honda likely divorce (up tp now, only David Richards talked about making Rossi test a F1 car).

Montezemolo himself underlined that it's very hard that a successful biker can make it in F1, more than in the past, when however only Surtees could.

[spearce]

Would Rossi be able to go straight to F1, license wise. I guess the answer is yes if max/bernie wanted him, which they would !

About the spelling :

Your brain is hard wired in such a way as to recognise potential matches to familiar objects, this is how optical illusions work...... But did yiu konw taht
Aoccdrnig to a rscheeahcr at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

[ralf fan]

Valentino could be great, i'm waiting to see his times

[Irv the Swerve]

Originally posted by spearce


Your brain is hard wired in such a way as to recognise potential matches to familiar objects, this is how optical illusions work...... But did yiu konw taht
Aoccdrnig to a rscheeahcr at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

I have to say that this is spot on. Peolpe can read that gibberish without even hesitating once.

Back on topic, I think Rossi is well capable of adjusting to be a racing driver given time. Whether or not he has the patience to step down to do a year of F3 or not, who knows.

[Super Tourer]

Lucky for me with my typing.....

[Ryo28]

Remember when Tommi Makinen tested a Williams 'just for fun' - and crashed it!

[Knowlesy]

But what about Colin McRae in the Jordan and Stewart though?

[ASCII Man]

Originally posted by Ryo28
Remember when Tommi Makinen tested a Williams 'just for fun' - and crashed it!

Twice if i recall corectly...

[Emfa]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
I'm looking forward to seeing this, Valentino could easily be good enoguh for F1 in a couple of years, and his personality and temprament could be ideal - he strikes me as the best bits of Michael, Montoya and Kimi all rolled into one on that level.

...

Oh my! Imagine the domination!

In this day and age it certainly would be a huge achievement if he was able to make the crossover.

[Knowlesy]

I have no doubt the doctor could be fair in an F1 car, but surely he couldn't adapt just like that and become a champ within a few years? Don't be daft. He could quite easily fail massively. If some people can't adapt from F3000 to F1 then adapting from a bike may be a tad more complex.

[Inigo Montoya]

Reports out of Italy today say that Valentino's dad has nixed the idea. At least, until Rossi gets sick of dominating the cycling world, and decides its time to dominate F1 instead.

[vatuloa]

You will see from this site Valantino's father does not have a lot of say when it come to his son I know Bernie is keen to see it happen.

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html

[DriverT]

Originally posted by spearce
Would Rossi be able to go straight to F1, license wise. I guess the answer is yes if max/bernie wanted him, which they would !

About the spelling :

Your brain is hard wired in such a way as to recognise potential matches to familiar objects, this is how optical illusions work...... But did yiu konw taht
Aoccdrnig to a rscheeahcr at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Yep, but they've found a counter-example so it doesn't hold always.

[DriverT]

By the way, when is this test meant to be happening? Every time I try to go to the quoted website, my browser crashes.

[Alan Jones]

Mick Doohan drove the Williams and spun it, twice i think.

[Glen]

He'd need a long buiild-up, just like his dad suggests. I can't see how he could possibly just get in the car and be anywhere near safe/fast/relaible/consistent enough without considerable single seaster experience beforehand. It's a hell of a lot tougher and more specialised now than in Surtees' day.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by climb
Frankly speaking, IMO twas just a made-in-Ialy marketing operation by Montezemolo: both won the WDC on the same day, both are italian symbols in the world, it was like a a way to link the two situations,

Just wonder if Michaels insurance people would allow him to ride the bike? I think not

[climb]

Nor do I

[Wrex]

Originally posted by Alan Jones
Mick Doohan drove the Williams and spun it, twice i think.

Your right AJ, and IIRC he looped it at turn 1 after leaving the pits.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya
Reports out of Italy today say that Valentino's dad has nixed the idea. At least, until Rossi gets sick of dominating the cycling world, and decides its time to dominate F1 instead.

Might he not be too old by then? As i understand it, he wants to win the Championship with Ducati too, this will make him another few years older before he even enters F1.

His opposition to racing for teams with tobacco sponsership is also a stopping block so the earliest he'll enter F1 (if he's going to) would be 2007 imo.