Valentino Rossi, the MotoGP legend had a test with Scuderia Ferrari back in 2005. Back then as per F1i, he tested with the real drivers in the team including Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, and had some decent results to show for it. Now, after 17 years, Schumacher’s motorsport best friend Mick Doohan, on the Beyond the Grid podcast revealed that Rossi was “smart enough to stay in his lane.”
There’s hardly any doubt about Rossi’s legendary status in motorsport, but that is limited just to Moto GP. As he was supreme on the bike, he also took a shot at the F1, which is considered to be the pinnacle of motorsport.
2008 Testing
🇮🇹Valentino Rossi – 🇮🇹Ferrari pic.twitter.com/2e9iIIRfAA— F1 in the 2010’s🏆🏁🚦 (@F1inthe2010s1) October 9, 2021
However, after a few tries in the Ferrari F2004 at Fiorano, Rossi, in the end, decided to stay back in his own sport. This is mainly because he did not find confidence from within to make the switch. This was even though his mother wanted him to try F1 out. Nevertheless, Doohan now revealed that it was a smart decision from the Italian former rider’s part.
Michael Schumacher’s friend on Rossi’s smart decision from 2005
As Rossi tested in a Ferrari alongside Schumacher, there were questions regarding the Moto GP legend’s seriousness about switching to Formula 1. During the recently published Beyond the Grid podcast, Tom Clarkson asked Doohan about the Italian and how serious he was about making the switch.
Answering this, Doohan who is a five-time world champion in the 500 cc category revealed that even though the Italian rider was very fast during his testing, he was still not fast enough to match the F1 drivers. One needs to go through years of karting to find some extra tenths, therefore, “Valentino was smart enough to stay in his lane”, further asserted Doohan.
When Valentino Rossi and Lewis Hamilton swapped rides 🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/2km8KmpTQy
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) August 5, 2021
Nevertheless, Rossi deciding to stay back in Moto GP, a sector where he excelled and it seemed to have paid off. While F1 had several drivers coming and going, the Italian driver raked in seven world titles before he retired from Moto GP.
Valentino Rossi’s experiences with Hamilton and F1
Valentino Rossi once recalled how grateful he was to have got the chance to test in F1. He said it was a special chance for him to drive for a team as big as Ferrari.
Furthermore, he also exchanged his ride with another seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Given both Hamilton and Rossi have Monster Energy as their sponsor, they arranged for a special crossover.
While Rossi drove the Mercedes W10, Hamilton was on the back of Rossi’s Yamaha. All in all, the life of Valentino Rossi could have been all different if he had made the switch from MotoGP to F1, many years earlier.
