Valentino Rossi In F1
(5 May 2006)
There has been much speculation during the last few months as to whether Valentino Rossi will enter Formula 1 with Ferrari in the forseeable future. He has done some testing with them at Fiorano, I believe, and later at Valencia, and the inevitable hype and publicity bandwagon has started to roll.
I read somewhere that allowing for adjustments concerning the difference in this year's and last year's engines, tyres, and other factors, Valentino got within 0.06 seconds of Schumacher's 2005 times at Valencia recently. It wasn't mentioned whether the effects of global warming were also included in the calculation, or the adverse aspect of Neptune to Jupiter at the time, but in my view it was all little more than the usual spin, and all rather pointless.
During his career so far, Valentino himself or his handlers have shown that they need little advice how to promote him, and this combined with his incredible skills has made him into the leading star of international motorcycle racing. There have certainly been other famous drivers who graduated from the sport, such as Tazio Nuvolari Achille Varzi, Bernd Rosemeyer and our own John Surtees, but they were not at the same level of domination that Rossi has achieved on bikes at the time. If he does move into cars, what might be his prospects?
From a psychological angle Valentino is very well-equipped. It is interesting to see him at the end of a race after coming into the pits and removed his helmet. He is elated obviously, but otherwise calm and relaxed, and doesn't really appear to have been in a race - very similar to Michael Schumacher in the same circumstances.
Racing, whether in cars or on bikes, has to be far more than big balls and bravery. I always think of the words of the great Juan Manuel Fangio, who said, "Fear is not a stupid thing. Winning is not a question of courage, but of having faith in oneself and in one's car. I knew many men who were more courageous than me. They are all dead now."
Racing must be a hard, cold, clinical exercise, not only in the use of one's machine but also one's attitude in the race. Again, Valentino is superb in this situation. There is no doubt in my mind that he psychologically destroyed that very fine rider Sete Gibernau's chances of winning the 2005 MotoGP World Championship with that calculated and risky overtaking move at the end of the first race of the series.
After watching the racing at the MotoGP at Istanbul last Sunday, it crossed my mind that in many ways, and with his potential, Valentino may find F1 quite relaxing and possibly boring compared to the environment he is used to. He is accustomed to riding two-wheeled machines with 250bhp engines, a complete weight in the region of 160kg, no traction control and a maximum speed of around 200mph.
In addition, the riders are riding absolutely on the limit for the whole of the race, often within inches of each other and sometimes touching. Because of the normal close racing, a slight mistake can mean losing two or three places at once. Overtaking manoeuvres are achieved anywhere, and often by incredibly late braking and drifting with the back wheel into corners even in the wet.
They also often have to continue racing while recovering from injuries. Marco Melandri, who won the Istanbul GP last Sunday, also won it last year with, I believe, 35 stitches in his foot from a previous accident, and beat Valentino in the process.
In F1 the situation is rather different. In a race, the driver has to keep a respectful distance from the car in front to avoid getting into its dirty air which will affect his own car's level of grip. There is practically no wheel-to-wheel racing. The only main chance to overtake is to slipstream on a straight if possible, and outbreak the other driver at the end.
One does see the occasional great move in modern F1, such as Hakinnen overtaking Schumacher at Spa, but the action is nowhere near as continuously fraught and competitive as on the bikes, which of course have far less protection. As someone recently said on television, "The bikes are racing, many of the cars are parading." We also have traction control in F1, which means the level of control and commitment has to be in a different league on two wheels, particularly in the wet.
Finally we have farce . . . sorry, strategy. Here is a situation where a driver, having driven a good race and in the lead, can lose his hard-earned advantage simply through the timing or number of pit stops. In my view this is one of the main factors that ruins F1 as a sporting spectacle. There are some fine drivers, the cars are faster than ever, corner speeds are higher, but the final result is so often decided by mathematical calculations and a computer.
As for Rossi's potential, I think he will go very well if he opts for F1. The latest quoted news is that he has not decided yet, but if he does it will be with Ferrari. I feel that he will need some time to settle in, but he has all the talent and ability to be a leading driver.
