New driver in F1

[bullysheful]

Hi,
a few years ago I've heard that world champion of Moto GP, Valentino Rossi, is considering entering the F1. He even made a test course with Michael Schumacher
's car and made a very good run. Did you heard about this? And if you did, what's your opinion on this?

[descorpio]

Originally Posted by bullysheful

Hi,
a few years ago I've heard that world champion of Moto GP, Valentino Rossi, is considering entering the F1. He even made a test course with Michael Schumacher
's car and made a very good run. Did you heard about this? And if you did, what's your opinion on this?

I have not heard about this guy. If he had tested, then why dint he enter F1. I also know a similar driver like him. He is Narain Karthikeyan from India who made his debut but is completely out of F1 after the season. I do not know why.

[diggyj]

Yes I heard of this and actually saw videos of the test session. He tested for a couple of days twice at Ferrari's private track at Fiorano.
His lap times were OK but nowhere hear the track recrod of Michael Schumacher.
One reason they want Rossi in F1 is that they may possibly have an italian driving an italian car to the World Championship. Last person to do ths was Alberto Ascari.
The irony is that by moving to F1, Rossi would breathe much needed life into both series – his dominance of MotoGP would end (since the beginning of 2001 he has won 48 of 74 Grands Prix, and 11 of the last 13 races) and he would focus attention on F1 like never before with his massive supporter base.
This will never happen though.

[diggyj]

The Jordan team was taken over and renamed Midland for the 2006 season, the management change prompted some doubt over Karthikeyan's future at the team. Near the end of 2005, Karthikeyan announced he would not be driving for Midland the following year due to their demand that he pay as much as USD 11.7 million to secure his seat on the team. Alot of drivers in F1 have backers, IE: connections with sponsors that bring money to a team, he could not do this so his ride ended.

When the Spyker F1 team was bought out by Vijay Mallya towards the end of 2007, Karthikeyan had been linked with a drive with the new Force India F1 team in 2008. However, Karthikeyan did not even get to test for the team. Karthikeyan was also linked to a drive with the Super Aguri team in January 2008, as one of the terms of an Indian consortium investing in the team. The deal was not agreed and he continued to drive for A1 Team India.

Also of note his performance just wasn't there. In 2005 his only points in his F1 careerer came in the US Grand Prix, and we all know what happened in this race with only 6 starters due to the rest of the field boycotting the race for tire concerns.