Why Did Valentino Rossi Reject Ferrari-Linked Offer?

Just imagine what might have been had Valentino Rossi, a multiple World Champion in MotoGP, would have gotten around racing F1 cars?

A master of speed and excellent control on two wheels making progress on four-wheels!

Furthermore, imagine what would have happened if Valentino Rossi would actually have beaten someone on the F1 track whilst driving a Ferrari or if not, then some Ferrari-linked F1 team?

In some sense, that would’ve made some sense, wouldn’t it?

That an Italian driver was eventually driving for an Italian racing team?

But then, there are things that happen for a reason and some, that don’t. To this day, we will never quite know why Valentino Rossi’s much-talked-about F1 deal not going through was pure luck or something that just had to happen for it was meant to be that way.

One is free to dub it as how one feels it.

But that said, the following is the man saying all about it, dwelling on a subject that even today, is about as gripping as it leaves one guessing about the enormous prospect of the ‘what-if’ that didn’t take shape:

‘It was true in the sense that, in 2004 when I won with Yamaha, Stefano Domenicali called me and he said ‘I have to let you test the car. We went to Fiorano to test the car. I was pretty fast and I lapped under the minute – 59’1.”

But that was not all; the celebrated MotoGP icon also shared the extent to which he went for his famed F1 Test and elaborated on what followed in when he actually went for an F1 test.

The legendary Italian would add the following in addition to his candid views earlier:

“I remember that the mechanics were betting on whether I would lap above or below one minute and, in the end, I won. Then after those tests I went to Mugello. I also did a real test in Valencia. And there I had to choose. If I had said yes I would have raced with Minardi, the B team. And then if I had gone fast enough the goal and the path would have been to race with Ferrari.”

All of that said, the sport has made a bit of a habit of unfurling strange scenarios from time to time. For instance, we’ve seen practitioners of speed in Nico Hulkenberg failing to impress upon their F1 comeback despite having oodles of experience. And yet, at the same time, we’ve also seen legends like Alonso excelling in their second stint at the sport despite contesting as the oldest talent on the F1 grid.

All of which, at least, somewhere means that never say never in Formula 1.