MOTOGP News Saturday, 18th March 2006
Rossi wants F1, insists Ferrari.
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn says that he would like to have Valentino Rossi on the team next year, but a lot of factors would have to fall into place to make it happen.
In essence, the team is waiting to see if the MotoGP star really wants to switch sports after his extensive test programme with the team during the winter.
"It's very exciting," Brawn admitted, "He's a huge personality, and he did a very good job, so it will be a very exciting thing to have. But you've got to make sure it will work from both sides, and the excitement will fade very quickly if it's not successful. So it's very important that we want to do it, Valentino wants to do it, all the people want to do it, so it has a chance of success.
"I think, at some point during the year, Valentino has got to decide what he wants to do, and Ferrari has got to decide what they want to do."
As we revealed last week, Brawn says that Rossi's programme won't necessarily be compromised by Ferrari joining the testing agreement.
"I don't think it will be a factor that will make or break the decision," he confirmed in Sepang, "I don't think we need any more technical information. I think there's a whole human side which we need to discuss, so I don't think there's a way of making a decision now. But there's lots of other aspects to be considered.
"Do we need to be testing Valentino during this season? I think the answer is no, because I think there's enough technical information and he's done a very good job. As I said, there's a human element, and a political and commercial element, to take into account. That's what will have to be considered."
Brawn was also critical of Fernando Alonso's recent suggestion that Rossi will never be one of the sport's top drivers - a criticism that provoked the Italian into challenging his Spanish rival to a three-way shoot-out to prove who was best.
"I don't know how he judges it, because I can't judge it," Brawn said of the Renault driver, "He might be right, but I don't know how he judges it. Having seen his performance with so little experience, there's nothing that tells you that he cannot do that. There's nothing that tells you that he can, but there's nothing that tells you he cannot. So I don't think you can make that statement."
Alonso, meanwhile, turned down Rossi's challenge, claiming that he wanted to remain focused on his F1 title defence.
source :
http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Ros...~id~126868.htm
19/03/2006, 19h08
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