Rossi and Ferrari in the news . . .again . .

Interesting, I was wondering what happened to him. A few comments:

- He is certainly right, that it would be a bigger gamble for him, because he would go from hero to zero. Ferrari OTOH are struggling now anyway. Whether you have Massa or Rossi crashing out doesn't really make a difference.

- June as a timeframe makes sense, because it would be tied to MS and Kimi's decision. I think those all hang together.

- Interesting he brings up the possibility of an "anti-Rossi camp". Where there is smoke...Actually I'm relieved to hear that some folks take a cold look at his laptimes. That should decide it right there.

 

Yeah much more risk to Rossi; his reputation and embarassment.
Ferrari only has half the team ( 1000 people ? ), Millions of dollars, National and corporate pride, and the fate of the world, to loose. OK, scratch the last part.
At least he's got the Minimum daily Ego requirement.

 

I spoke with a couple of friends in Italy who raced motorcycles a few weeks ago. Any connection between Rossi and Ferrari is more a ploy to sell newspapers than real news.

 

He just won Qatar, I think he's in F1 next year. Doesn't need the money, doesn't need any more trophies, does need validation that he's the best that ever was, and only Surtess ever won both. He's won more championships than Surtess, but hasn't done anything in cars. I see him in a Ferrari next year.

Big Kenny (KR) tried cars after his championships, so did Lawson. Neither was very good with 4 wheels. Rossi would like to leave his legacy as the best that ever was.

Art

 

He can't be too much worse than Massa the destroyer.

 

Well, I don't think I need to state my position on this again But the way things look right now, Ferrari could do worse than to put Rossi in Massa's seat.

 

Rossi is dominant in the most skilled form of road racing there is. Once he decideds to focus solely on cars, you'll see him improve drastically.

 

Ah I see. So far he was just toying around in the F1 Ferrari. I'm sure the Scuderia is happy to know that he was only wasting their time for kicks.

 

Uh.....I'm not sure where I said that, but maybe I should have been a little more clear.


MOST of his track time has been focused on bikes. In comparison, he has spent very little time behind the wheel of an F1 car. His main focus has been the bike. When he makes the switch completely, you'll see him improve in leaps and bounds.

 

I seriously doubt he wasn't giving it his all when he was testing the F1 car. A man with his media following probably wouldn't slack off and turn in bad times. Most of the racing world was watching to see what he could do in the car, so I doubt he wasn't trying to prove he could compete. I honestly feel he hasn't signed an F1 contract yet because he doesn't fee he could keep up on the track. He's talking about him having more to lose than Ferrari proves hes definately worried about failure on an international stage.

Mark

 

I understand and believe Rossi is a God on bikes. What I don't get is the confidence his believers have in him for 4 wheels.

I have nothing against Rossi, but the fact is that F1 heroes are fast from the getgo. They don't develop their speed. They develop their technique, racing strategy etc, but the speed either is there or it is not. MS in his first test in Silverstone cut so much time off the sheets that the Jordan guys were wondering whether he found a short cut on the track.

 

I'm not saying he wasn't trying, just that he doesn't have a terrible amount of time in the car.....that coupled with the fact that he is go back and forth between the bike and car.

It's like playing tennis and racquetball.....Racquetball screws up your tennis game, but no vice versa.



Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Rossi 12th fastest in his first test alongside other drivers?

 

This one is pretty easy, it is a common belief amoungs two wheeled enthusiasts that going fast on a bike is MUCH harder than going fast in a car.

And Rossi is FAST on two wheels.

 

that's pretty much a fact.

 

That's a good point. We've beaten every other aspect to death, but I could see why there would be those inside the Ferrari walls who question why they should be playing this game. Sure, Rossi COULD be potentially good. But Ferrari spend hundreds of millions of dollars and countless hours to build the best Formula One cars they can. They're not in the business of racing driver development, regardless of where he comes from. I'll bet a lot of the Ferrari employees feel that their hard work merits proven drivers. Especially when hiring Massa proves to be a fiasco. And I don't care how much harder a motorcycle is to race than a car--there WILL be a learning curve for him.

 

Driving the V10 against the V8's.

 

Maybe they (Ferrari) just need an Italian driving a car ?

 

Ok, so explain to me this significance of this. The V10 is the older car I'm assuming. Are the laptimes faster now, than they were with the V10's?

In roadracing, engine power is not the end all of end all's.

 

...and the Ferrari V10 is slower (comparatively compared to the field) than the V8 is

 

thank you Mike. So he was good enough for 12th on that day, with a slower car.

 

Driving a car with an additional 200hp is a major advantage. Just ask any of the current drivers if they'd prefer to run the V8 or the V10 in their car next race. During testing, when Rossi was driving the V10 had a 2+sec lap time advantage IMO. He was over 2 secs a lap off the pace, driving a much faster car. Performance gains this year have come as a result of tyre changes being re-introduced allowing the use of much softer, quicker compounds.

 

It depends on the engine restrictions, whether they used any and, if so, how much. It also depends on the track as well. When the chassis' are relatively equal, as was the case here, then engine power would make all the difference in the world. When you watch the F1 races you can see how the Red Bull cars with restricted V-10s have a lot more low-end torque but less high-end grunt. This is significant, and has been pointed out by the drivers who note that the V-10s are more forgiving since you can power out of your mistakes much easier. The V-8s are more vulnerable to loss of momentum and require a more precise driving style.

 

I think what he was saying that last year with the V10's, the Ferrari was more off the pace than they are with the V8. Meaning if they were say 3 seconds slower than the top car last year, they are only 2 seconds off this year. Next to each other, the V10 cars have about 2 seconds a lap on the V8's.

 

Are the lap times faster now, than they were, when running the V10's? That's what I'm asking.

I'm not asking about tires etc. I know that the V10 would inherently be stronger, but chassis and handling is just as big of a factor, probably bigger, than is engine power.

Faster now, or then?