Life is made up of choices, dreams and opportunities. The problem arises when opportunities force us to make choices that undermine our dreams. Confused? Is life…
This article is about one of those tough choices, Valentino Rossi's tough choice between MotoGP and Formula 1.
As is well known, Rossi chose to stay in MotoGP. But I raise the following question: what would it have been like if the one who is considered by many - and by me too - as the best driver of all time, had switched from two wheels to four wheels?
This article will be about that adventure, that dating, that vertigo, which between 2004 and 2009, shared the hearts of millions of motorsport enthusiasts. A wedding that happened could have brought together two heavyweight debutants: Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi.
During those years, 2004 to 2009, the world became polarized. On the one hand, those who wanted to continue to see Valentino Rossi in MotoGP, on the other, those who wanted to see “The Doctor” repeat a feat that was only achieved once by the great John Surtees: to be Formula 1 world champion and MotoGP, the leading disciplines in motorsport.
the beginning of dating
It was 2004 and Rossi had already won everything there was to win: world champion in 125, world champion in 250, world champion in 500, and 3x world champion in MotoGP (990 cm3 4T). I repeat, everything there was to gain.
His supremacy over the competition was so great that some said that Rossi only won because he had at his disposal the best bike and the best team in the world: the Honda RC211V from Team Repsol Honda.
Faced with the constant devaluation of his achievements by some press, Rossi had the courage and the daring to do something completely unexpected: exchange the safety of the «superstructure» of the official Honda team, for a team that no longer knew what it was a world title a decade ago, Yamaha.
How many drivers would be able to risk their career and prestige in this way? Marc Marquez is your cue…
Critics were silenced when Rossi won the 1st GP of the 2004 season on the one bike that didn't win, the Yamaha M1.
It was love at first sight. Despite the constraints raised by Honda — which only released the rider on December 31, 2003 — and which prevented him from testing the Yamaha M1 in Valencia after the end of the championship, Valentino Rossi and Masao Furusawa (former director of Yamaha Factory Racing Team) created a winning bike at the first attempt.
This episode of the switch from Honda to Yamaha is just a reminder that Valentino Rossi never turned his back on a challenge, so a move to Formula 1 was not unreasonable.
In 2005, already on his way to his 2nd world title riding the Yamaha M1, Valentino Rossi believed that MotoGP had no challenge to match.
Honor be paid to the then curly-haired young Italian who calls himself “The Doctor”: he was never afraid of challenges. That's why when the phone rang in 2004, Valentino Rossi said “yes” to a very special invitation.
On the other end of the line was Luca di Montezemolo, president of Scuderia Ferrari, with an irrefutable invitation: to test a Formula 1. just for fun.
Definitely, Valentino Rossi hadn't just gone to see «the ball»…
First test. openmouthed Schumacher
Valentino Rossi's first test driving a Formula 1 took place at the Ferrari test circuit in Fiorano. In that private test, Rossi shared the garage with another driver, another legend, another champion: Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula 1 world champion.
Luigi Mazzola, at the time one of the Scuderia Ferrari engineers entrusted by Ross Brawn to gauge Valentino Rossi's competitiveness, recently recalled on his Facebook page the moment when the Italian left the team's pits for the first time.
Luigi Mazzola, engineer at Scuderia FerrariIn the first attempt, Valentino gave about 10 laps to the track. On the last lap, he got an incredible time. I remember that Michael Schumacher, who was sitting next to me looking at the telemetry, was amazed, almost incredulous.
The timing wasn't impressive just for the simple reason that Rossi had never tried a Formula 1. The timing was impressive even in direct comparison with the times set by German champion Michael Schumacher.
The specialized press went wild and a series of tests was launched, "at least seven tests" recalled Luigi Mazzola, in an attempt to find out how competitive Valentino Rossi would be.
In 2005, Rossi returned to Fiorano for another test, but the test of the nine was yet to come…
But before continuing this story, it is important to remember an interesting fact. Contrary to what we might think, Valentino Rossi didn't start his career in motorcycling, it was in karting.
Valentino Rossi's initial goal was to line up in the European Karting Championship, or the Italian Karting Championship (100 cm3). However, his father, the former 500 cm3 driver, Grazziano Rossi could not bear the costs of these championships. It was at this time that Valentino Rossi joined the mini-bikes.
In addition to Karting and Formula 1, Valentino Rossi is also a fan of rallying. He even took part in a World Rally Championship event riding a Peugeot 206 WRC in 2003, and in 2005 he beat one Colin McRae at the Monza Rally Show. By the way, Valentino Rossi has been a constant presence in this rally race ever since.
The moment of truth. Rossi in the shark tank
In 2006, Rossi received a new invitation to test a Ferrari Formula 1 car. This time it was even more serious, it wasn't a private test, it was an official pre-season test session in Valencia, Spain. It was the first time the Italian pilot was going to measure forces directly with the best in the world.
In practice, a shark lake inhabited by names like Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Robert Kubica, Mark Webber and so on.
Michael SchumacherI didn't give him any advice, he doesn't need
In that test in Valencia, Rossi put to sense many of these sharks. At the end of the second day of testing, Rossi achieved the 9th fastest time (1min12.851s), just 1.622s off the reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso and just one second off the best time of Michael Schumacher.
Unfortunately, these times did not allow for a direct comparison with the best in the world. Unlike the rest of the drivers, Valentino Rossi drove a 2004 Formula 1 in Valencia — the Ferrari F2004 M — while Michael Schumacher drove a more recent Formula 1, the Ferrari 248 (spec 2006).
In addition to the chassis improvements from the 2004 to 2006 model, the big difference between Rossi's and Schumacher's Ferraris concerned the engine. The Italian's single-seater was equipped with a “limited” V10 engine while the German was already using one of the new V8 engines without restrictions.
Ferrari's invitation
2006 was perhaps the moment in history where the door to Formula 1 was most open for the Italian driver. At the same time, it was also in that year that Valentino Rossi lost a premier-class title for the first time since the introduction of MotoGP.
Unbeknownst to us, Schumacher's days at Ferrari were also numbered. Kimi Raikkonen would join Ferrari in 2007. Rossi also had just one more year of contract with Yamaha, but has re-signed with the "three tuning fork" brand to win two more MotoGP titles.
After that, Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo claimed that he would have put Rossi in a third car if the rules allowed. It was said that the proposal that Ferrari effectively presented to the Italian driver was going through a season of apprenticeship in another Formula 1 World Cup team. Rossi did not accept.
Goodbye Formula 1?
After losing two MotoGP championships, in 2006 to Nicky Hayden, and in 2007 to Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi has won two more world championships. And in 2008 he returned to sit at the controls of a Formula 1.
Valentino Rossi then tested the 2008 Ferrari at the tests in Mugello (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain). But this test, more than a real test, seemed more like a marketing ploy.
As Stefano Domenicali said in 2010: “Valentino would have been an excellent Formula 1 driver, but he chose another route. He is part of our family and that's why we wanted to give him this opportunity.”
Stefano DomenicaliWe are happy to be together once again: two Italian symbols, Ferrari and Valentino Rossi.
But perhaps Rossi's last chance to race in F1 came in 2009, following Felipe Massa's injury in Hungary. Luca Badoer, the driver who replaced Massa in the following GP’s, did not do the job, and the name of Valentino Rossi was mentioned again to take over one of the Ferraris.
Valentino RossiI spoke to Ferrari about racing in Monza. But without testing, it didn't make sense. We've already decided that entering Formula 1 without testing is more risky than fun. You can't understand everything in just three days.
Once again, Rossi demonstrated that he was not looking at the possibility of joining Formula 1 as an experiment. To be, it had to be to try to win.
What if he had tried?
Let's imagine that this opportunity had arisen in 2007? A season in which the Ferrari car won more than half of the races – six with Raikkonen and three with Felipe Massa. What could have happened? Could Rossi match John Surtees?
Can you imagine the repercussions that the arrival of Valentino Rossi would have had in Formula 1? A man who draws crowds and is known to millions. Without a doubt, the biggest name in motorcycling in the world.
It would be such a romantic story that it's impossible not to ask the question: what if he had tried?
Ferrari itself posed this question a few months ago, in a tweet with the title “What if…”.
What if…? @ValeYellow46 #ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/HiPp8kWD2X
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 28, 2018
However, it has been more than a decade since Valentino Rossi had the possibility to enter Formula 1. Currently, Valentino Rossi is in second place in the championship, just behind Marc Marquez.
When asked how he feels, Valentino Rossi says he is "in top shape" and that he trains "more than ever to not feel the weight of age." The proof that his words are true is that he has regularly beaten the driver who should have been his team's "spearhead": Maverick Vinales.
From the Japanese brand, Valentino Rossi only asks for one thing: a more competitive motorcycle to continue winning. Rossi still has two more seasons to try for his 10th world title. And only those who don't know the determination and talent of the Italian driver, who sports the mythical number 46, can doubt his intentions.
To end this chronicle (which is already long), I leave you with the words that Luigi Mazzola, the man who watched all this in the front row, wrote on his Facebook page:
I had the pleasure of working with Valentino Rossi for two fantastic years. On test days, he arrived at the track in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. He was a very normal person. But when he entered the box he changed everything. His mentality was the same as that of Prost, Schumacher and other great drivers. I remember a driver who dragged and motivated the whole team, he was able to give directions with incredible precision.
This is what Formula 1 lost…