MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi reflected on his F1 test with Ferrari, saying that it was huge for his racing career.
Rossi is the greatest racer to have ridden two-wheeled machines. He is a nine-time world champion in MotoGP, and retired last season leaving behind an illustrious career. The 42-year-old will now switch to four wheels, when he takes part in the 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe series driving an Audi R8 LMS for WRT.
However, fifteen years earlier, the Italian nearly races cars instead of motorcycles. He dipped his toes into the F1 pond at various instances, and actually came close to signing for the sport.
Rossi reflected on his F1 test with Ferrari, saying that even though it didn’t come to fruition, it was huge for him.
“That was a very big moment of my life,” Vale said on the ‘In Depth With Graham Bensinger’ show, as quoted by f1i.com.
“(Then Ferrari boss) Stefano Domenicali called me and said ‘why don’t you try our car, we have a track in Fiorano – it is interesting, fast and has a hairpin’.
“I said okay and we organised it. We arrived in secret the day before because we tried to keep it secret but it wasn’t at the end.”
Preparations
“In 2006, I did a test, a real test with the real drivers in Valencia,” he continued.
“It was a good test, I was quite fast. But I remember when I came back home, I decided to stay in MotoGP.
“For F1, I had a plan, but it was not straight with Ferrari. It was start with a small team, try to make some experience, and after if I am fast enough I’d arrive to Ferrari. But I had a lot of question marks.
“I also had a lot of pressure from my side. ‘Go with the car’, ‘go with Ferrari’ because it’s something big. Everybody when I tried to explain and try to ask for help for my decision, they say to me ‘no, no, you have to go to F1’.
“I think I have to decide myself, and in my heart, I think I have to stay with MotoGP,” he concluded.
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