When it comes to the world of motorcycle racing, there is no one bigger in terms of popularity than Valentino Rossi. One of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, Rossi almost took to the world of Formula 1 back in 2006.
Also known as The Doctor Rossi seemed to be all set to make the switch to a four-wheeled career, and that too with the racing team that even Formula 1 drivers dream of racing for – Ferrari. But as we all know, that was not to be as Rossi would continue to build a glorious career in the world of MotoGP which will span all the way to 2021, when Rossi announced his retirement from MotoGP.
While Valentino Rossi has not entirely quit the world of racing and has finally made the switch to racing cars, he opens up and shares the story of what came in the way between him and a racing career with Ferrari in Formula 1, in 2006.
Valentino Rossi, Ferrari, And Formula 1 Almost Happened
In an interview with American journalist Graham Bensinger, that has been uploaded to YouTube and spans over an hour, Valentino Rossi talks about everything from why he decided to retire to how he felt before every race. However, what we are here to talk about is his tryst with the idea of racing in Formula 1 and the role of Ferrari in almost making it a reality.
For this, you need to go to the 25-minute mark on the hour-long video where Rossi starts talking about his secret test with Ferrari in 2006. Rossi starts by calling it “a very good moment” of his life.
Rossi shares how he got a call from Stefano Domenicali, the current CEO of Formula One Group who had taken upon the role of the Ferrari F1 team’s Director in 2007. Domenicali invited Rossi to try the F1 car at Ferrari’s private Fiorano Circuit located in Italy and after Rossi’s acceptance, the task was to keep the test a secret.
Eventually, Rossi would go on to participate in the Valencia group test where he would end the test being only 0.7 seconds off of Michael Schumacher’s best time. On the second day of testing, Rossi would be faster than the likes of Mark Webber, David Coulthard, and Jarno Trulli. Schumacher would go on to praise Rossi after the test saying he would be competitive immediately if he made the switch.
But as we find out in the video, his plan with Ferrari would first have Rossi drive a smaller car with a smaller team, gain experience and if he is fast enough, he would then go on to get a seat at the Ferrari F1 team. These, however, meant too many variables for Rossi and despite being “not so bad” with the car, he wanted to continue to race in MotoGP.
Valentino Rossi: The Greatest Motorcycle Racer Of All Time
And what a career in MotoGP it would turn out to be. Rossi would go on to become a nine-time Grand Prix world champion and the MotoGP hall-of-fame legend would establish his own racing team, called Racing Team VR46, that is competing today both in MotoGP and Moto2.
Rossi is the only racer in motorcycle racing history to have competed in over 400 Grand Prix races and has won world championships in four classes, making him the only rider to achieve such a feat. He holds the record for clocking successive podiums, 23 successive top-three results to be specific, and has won on seven different motorcycles.
Valentino Rossi’s 89 race wins in MotoGP are the highest ever with the second spot going to Giacomo Agostini with 68 premier class wins. Across all classes, Rossi has been on the podium 235 times across all classes with 199 of them coming from MotoGP, with the second spot being held by Jorge Lorenzo with 114 MotoGP podiums.
He competed at 29 racetracks in MotoGP and has won at 23 of these tracks and that’s not it, Rossi has the longest winning GP career across all classes which spans over 20 years and 311 days between his first and last MotoGP win.
He raced in MotoGP till the age of 42. And there’s a lot more, so much that we’ll need a day to list them all down. But these should give you an idea of why Valentino Rossi is held in such high regard by MotoGP fans around the world.
Valentino Rossi Continues To Race
Valentino Rossi might have retired from MotoGP, but he has not given up on racing. The switch to the world of four-wheel racing has finally happened as he now races for Team WRT in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and drives an Audi R8 LMS. Rossi competes for the reigning champion team – both for Endurance and Sprint Cups – sporting the iconic number 46.
To think back at what could have been is anyone’s guess. But given the sheer success that Rossi has stacked up in his racing career and his immediate competitiveness on an F1 car, we are sure that if his career in F1 had taken off, the story would still have been one to talk about.
After all, wouldn’t it have been great to see Valentino Rossi debut on a Ferrari in F1 in 2007 – which is the exact year when Lewis Hamilton debuted in F1?
Sources: Graham Bensinger, MotoGP
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https://formulaone.news/ferrari/charles-leclerc-relaxes-with-beau-charlotte-sine-on-getaway-in-formentera
