This has to be the umpteenth story coming out of Italy about Valentino Rossi and Ferrari getting together ever since Rossi tested the red car in a number of occasions.
Rossi confessed the other week that he and Stefano Domenicali of Ferrari talked about the possibility of racing for the Maranello team as a replacement for the struggling Luca Badoer for the Italian Grand Prix.
The 8 times World Champion refused the opportunity, citing that the lack of preparation on his neck and the lack of test time on the car and his title fight for the 2009 MotoGP Championship.
“We spoke with Domenicali, but we had two big problems.
The first one is the neck, because I don’t know if I would be able to finish the race with my neck.
Monza is not very strong for the neck, but anyway it still needs great effort, and also, because we’re fighting for the MotoGP championship, for sure the race at Monza would be a big stress and it’s better to stay in MotoGP.
We had already decided before, that to go into a Formula 1 race without testing the car is more risky than fun.
It’s not possible to arrive over there and do all the work to understand the car in just three days.
” As some people take this story pretty seriously, Rossi was interviewed last night by RAI TG1:“There was the possibility of testing but I couldn’t leave motorcycle racing, I wasn’t ready.
Everything began because I went fast with the Ferrari”.
When asked what was the best compliment that you got from Ferrari, Rossi replied: “What are you doing on motorycles, come to Formula 1!”Even the great Sir Stirling Moss has given his opinion on Rossi in Formula 1:“I’m certain Rossi could succeed in F1 if he wanted, if you are good at one motor sport you will be good at the other and Rossi has that much talent and understanding of speed I’m certain he could make it in F1.
Even at the age of 32 when he retires, but personally I would not advise it.
I think he is too good for F1, he would revolutionise the paddock by bringing in a sense of humour.
If he seriously wanted to race F1 I’m sure his desire and dedication would see him succeed, but I don’t think he should do it, it would be a backwards step.
The atmosphere in the F1 paddock is different to the motorcycle one, not as much fun and much more serious and I don’t think he would enjoy it.
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