Valentino Rossi ended his racing career in MotoGP on August 5, and this will be the first year that the world championship has not had the #46 in its ranks since 1996. With nine titles, 115 victories and 235 podiums, the Italian said goodbye to more than 25 years marked by unforgettable moments in the history of motorcycling.
However, all these years could have been reduced to zero if Rossi had changed the course of his life, as two wheels were not the only offer the Italian driver had on the table.
In an interview on ‘ In Depth With Graham Bensinger ‘, Rossi admits he came “very close” to finishing on the Formula 1 grid.
” Stefano Domenicali called me and said ‘why don’t you try one of our cars? We have an interesting and fast track in Fiorano, let’s do a test here’. So I accepted the offer and we organized the test,” says Rossi.
Afterwards, the Italian did not take long to carry out another test in Valencia, where he shared the track with 14 other Formula 1 drivers.
The first day did not go according to plan, but during his second day things went well for him and he finished ninth. His fastest lap was 0.7 seconds slower than Michael Schumacher’s.
“Actually, there was a plan to move to Formula 1, but not directly with Ferrari. The intention was that he would start with a smaller team, try to gain experience and if he was fast enough, he would move to Ferrari,” he said. Tavullia pilot.
“I think it was a very good test, I was quite fast. But I remember when I got home I decided to continue in MotoGP .”
Still, there were question marks left in the Italian’s plans.
“There was a lot of pressure for him to make this decision. They were saying ‘Choose F1, go to Ferrari’ because that was something important.
“When I wanted to explain my decision, everyone said ‘no, no, you should go to F1,'” says Rossi .
The Italian pilot assures that even his mother supported a future on four wheels. However, the #46 decided to forge his future and try his luck in the motorcycling world championship, a championship that has made him one of the most emblematic and influential riders in the world of motorcycling.
“I had to decide for myself and my heart told me to stay in MotoGP.”
