Door open for Rossi and F1??

Nixon · Brolly Dolly Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Karma :

With Schumacher out of Ferrari and into McLaren, is the door opened for Rossi to step up to the big game??
How long till John Surtees is joined in the history books?
Discuss ..........

Faldo · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Karma :

Schumacher left Ferrari in '06 and has gone to Brawn/Mercedes not McClaren.

Rossi has signed up again for Yamaha and has said he won't even think about F1 until he's finished with bikes. He's into WRC and has won a few races. It'll be a long time (if ever) we see Vale in F1 I'm afraid.

EDIT: If he does go to F1 I can't really see him doing more than two seasons, I think the corporate side of F1 would get up his nose.
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Misc · World Chat Champion Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Karma :

Don't know much about Rossi but how the hell can he be up to professional standard in MotoGP, Formula 1 & rallying!

Where did he find the time to perfect each craft?

Fisty · Super Spammer Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Karma :

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

I heard that he tested for Ferrari F1 but couldn't cope with the braking forces. Similarly Doohan did too, and the same thing happened.

I think Ferrari would have taken him on if he had met their standards.
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c-m · World Chat Champion Joined: 12 May 2006 Karma :

In testing wasn't he just 1 second off Schumacher at the time?

Thats pretty fast considering the limited amount of time he has spent in an F1 car.

Of course he wouldn't gain an FIA Superlicense so its all just academic. Loeb has won what 5/6 rally championships and they wouldn't grant him a license

27cows · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Nov 2009 Karma :

Such switches rarely come off, largely because riders who then try F1/other car racing are well past their peak by the time they give it a go...with predictably disappointing results.

Faldo · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Karma :

Wafer_Thin_Ham · Super Spammer Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Karma :

Deckx · Nearly there... Joined: 09 Apr 2007 Karma :

I hope he spits the dummy with yamaha regarding Lorenzo and switches to Ducati... now that would be interesting !!

Faldo · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Karma :

LeeR · World Chat Champion Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Karma :

There's no denying Rossi's skills on a track and to be within a second of Schumacher in what was then the best car on the grid is indeed commendable.

But, the sport has moved on since then, 10 years ago the entire F1 grid was separated by 6 seconds, usually with Minardi at the rear.

Within the last five years the grid tightened up, with teams dropping out and the technology gap decreasing, (there is after all only so much time available before the smaller teams cotton on to race winning ideas), so the grid was then separated by 3 seconds.

Last year the grid was soo tight at times it was separated by less then a second!

If Rossi (as a F1 rookie) was in this grid he'd find himself at the back fighting it out with Force India's driven by Adrian Sutil and Torro Rosso's driven by Antonio Luzzi, both cracking talents capable of winning races, and I haven't even mentioned the 8 or so actual race winners ahead of them in decent cars. (See Giancarlo Fisichella's efforts in the '09 Ferrari to get an idea of the difficulty)

Then finally you have the logistics of which team, I guess from the OP you mean Ferrari, and I'd like to see compelling reasons why they'd now take Rossi, when they have a two-time world champion in Alonso, and proven race winner Massa (remember he lost the '08 championship to Hamilton by 1 point). Ferrari have just paid off Kimi Raikkonen so they could have a free seat for Alonso.

Personally I don't see it happening, Rossi by F1's standards is probably now too old, the next clutch of talent is currently being lined up in Daniel Ricciardo (British F3 champ), Adrian Valles (SuperLeague champ), Bertand Baguette (F Renault 3.5 champ), Andy Soucek (F2 champ), Vitaly Petrov (GP2 runner-up), Jules Bianchi (Euro F3 champ), Adam Carroll (A1GP champ), and Nico Hulkenberg (GP2 champ)

These are all open wheel race winners that would cost a few million for a F1 team to try out for a season, Rossi would cost multiple millions.

The sport is seeking to reduce costs and maintain results, therefore Rossi in a F1 car is a no-brainer, sadly.
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