Fiat Yamaha have released a couple of video interviews with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. The interviews see the riders look back at the 2009 MotoGP season, discusses what they will spend their time doing in the winter break, and what their expectations are of the forthcoming 2010 MotoGP season.
Valentino Rossi Interview:
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What have you been doing during the off-season? How much training and how much holidaying?
If my time during winter was 100, let’s say 50/50 between holiday and training. I went to the mountains with my friends and I snowboarded with them, which is my favourite winter sport. My training during the winter break is very different than the standard one during the MotoGP season. Anyway, I have never stopped training, otherwise it would be very much difficult to start riding again this year. |
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How do you prepare for a new season? Is it more important to work on your fitness these days?
Training has become more and more important, because MotoGP bikes are more and more difficult to be ridden and you need power and resistance for the 45 minutes of the race. You also have to get to the new season start in the best possible shape. At the gym, my training is pretty normal, with weights, but I always try to ride motocross or supermotard bikes at the ‘cava’, in order to not lose the feeling with the throttle. |
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At the age of 31 (nearly) do you think you are still improving as a racer or do you think you have reached the peak of your talents?
On 16th February I will be 31. I will be a little older… I always try to be at the top of my shape, improving and trying to adapt to the new bike. You always need to adapt yourself to the new bike, to the new regulation. If you think you are at the top of your performance, it is a big problem! Every season has its own story, it is more and more difficult and you always have to be faster. I will try again, as usual. Who do you think will be toughest to beat this season, Jorge, Casey or Dani, and why? You have made no secret of the fact that you are not happy about the new engine rule restricting the amount of engines that can be used in a season. How would you change it, if you could? Last year you made more mistakes than we’ve grown accustomed to seeing you make. Do you think this was to do with the level your rivals pushed you to or what? What developments have you personally asked to be made to the M1 for this season? What’s your opinion about Ben Spies? Do you think he can be a threat to the current ‘big four’, as many people say he will be? What are your thoughts about the news of 1000cc engines returning in two seasons’ time? Is that an exciting prospect that makes you want to commit to MotoGP for even longer? Following your recent Ferrari F1 test, people are asking once again if you will move to F1. What do you say about this, and how do you expect Ferrari to do this year? What do you think about Schumacher returning to F1? Is what Schumacher is doing something you could see yourself doing, i.e. leaving MotoGP for a few years and then returning? Or do you think that, when you do decide to retire, it will be for good? When do you expect to make a decision about your future? Can you shed any light on what you’re planning? |
| Davide Brivio |
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Every few weeks the Yamaha racing stars will check into the lounge to file their latest report and give you an insight into their lives at and away from the race track.
You can now read an interview with FIAT Yamaha MotoGP Team Director Davide Brivio and expect others to follow!
You can find the Interview in the Rider Lounge section within the racing classes’ navigation.
| Vale |
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This year we have already seen how competitive the MotoGP field is and I think there are four or five riders who can win the championship, maybe more. Of course I would like to win as much as possible but the important thing is to be on the podium – if possible in every race – and get as many points as we can. I have said that one of my main rivals is Dani Pedrosa and already the press have started to try and create problems between us. I suppose the mistake was mine because I should always remember that everything I say will be taken out of context by the media. I talked about Dani being a ‘bambino’, which means baby in Italian, but I meant it only as a joke about his size because he’s a lot smaller than me! I didn’t mean anything about him as a person, I like him as a person and he is very grown-up. This is something I have had to deal with throughout my career – journalists creating this battle between me and the other riders – and I get quite tired of it now! I know it was my mistake but I don’t think it’s fair when they just take one part of something I have said to make up a story that isn’t true. In the past, with some rivals, it was all polemics but now there is none of that and I like it this way. Of course in the past there were some riders with whom I didn’t get on so well off the bike, but now there is none of that in the paddock and I like the fact that we all get on OK. We’re all friends…except maybe when it comes to the last corner of the race!
Thankfully it didn’t come down to the last corner between me and Dani at Jerez because my team did a perfect job setting up my M1. It was hard, because at the beginning it is always hard to understand what is happening during the race, depending on the conditions and temperature. I have to thank everybody because we were able to change something during the warm-up, as I was having troubles with a full tank and this proved to be a very important change. With the new tyre regulations we have to work a little bit differently than last year – we can’t test the race tyre in the warm-up, but the 10 laps we made in the morning allowed us to understand the problem. We made some changes to the fork and as a result, in the race I was able to be fast from the very first corner. I realised it immediately and therefore I tried to attack Dani from the first corner. The tyres helped me a lot and I rode very well, just extending my advantage over Dani with every lap so that he didn’t have the chance to attack me in the final corner.
The win at Jerez means I am also leading the championship, which is perfect because now we have to wait a month until the next race. It is a long time to wait and it would have been even longer if I wasn’t on top of the championship! Despite this I think the calendar this year is much better than last year. Now I will spend one month at home and it will be nice and relaxing, but then in June and July we will have a very long series of races, so it is important to make the most of this moment. There are 18 races altogether, which for me is too much, but at least the extra race is at Misano, just a few kilometres from my home town of Tavulia, so maybe I shouldn’t complain so much! It’s going to be a great party there and it is a race I am looking forward to very much. |
| Vale |
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I flew straight from Qatar to compete in the Rally of New Zealand, which was an amazing experience for me. The last time I competed in WRC I crashed in the first stage so this time I took things more carefully and built my speed up over each day. In the first stage I was 33rd but I got much faster and finished ninth fastest in the final stage, ending up eleventh overall, so I was really pleased with that. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to compete again later this year. Of course I haven’t done any Formula 1 driving this winter, although I did watch the first race in Australia on the television. I was really sorry for Felipe Massa but I am a Ferrari fan so I was also happy for Kimi Raikkonen’s win. I think the Ferrari is the strongest car out there and this is good for the rest of the championship. Some people have pointed out that it could have been me out there driving the Ferrari in F1 but I never regretted my choice to stay in MotoGP. It was an important decision so I decided to make it with my heart and I never regretted it. Also, if I had changed from MotoGP to F1 having lost my title in the last race of my last season it would have been a bad feeling, so I am happy to stay to try and win it back!
In February I signed a new contract to stay with Yamaha in 2008. I’m very happy because it means now I can just concentrate on racing this season. I think that last year, when we fought back from what seemed an impossible situation to come so close to taking the title, showed what a fantastic team we are and this is why I wanted to stay with Yamaha. The atmosphere in our garage is always relaxed and happy and I think that this is something very special and difficult to find. I have great faith in Yamaha and I am very excited about my future and the future of the 800cc bike with them. We are ready to challenge with the new 800cc and now this agreement gives us the chance to launch this challenge for the next two years.
So as you can see it was a busy winter for me but I did get some time for a holiday so I took the opportunity to go to Miami with my girlfriend. We have some friends who moved to live there so it was nice to spend some time with them and enjoy the sunshine! Apart from that I have spent a lot of time in front of the television watching my favourite football team Inter Milan. They have been in great form this season and at the moment they are leading the Serie A by 18 points. The reason I have been watching them on the television and not going to the stadium is because the last game I saw was the Champions League semi-final in 2003, when we lost on away goals to our great rivals AC Milan. Since that day I swore I would never go to see Inter again because whenever I am in the stadium they play badly or lose! I think I am bad luck so I am staying away and for the moment it seems to be working! Hopefully the season can end on a high note for Inter and continue in the right way for me. The next couple of races will be tough but I have great confidence in Yamaha and in my new M1 that we can fight to win my title back. Thanks for all your support – speak to you all soon.
Ciao!
#46
| Colin Edwards |
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A lot has happened since my last diary – most notably re-signing for Yamaha in 2007, which I was delighted to finalise at the end of last season. I couldn’t be happier to be staying with Yamaha for another year. It’s no secret that last season we didn’t achieve the results we should have had, but in the last few races of the season I could feel that things were starting to turn around. I couldn’t ask for a better team-mate or team and the switch to the 800cc bike has worked really well for me so it has been nice to show Yamaha that they were right to put their faith in me with some good work in preseason and a couple of decent results to start the year at Qatar and Jerez.
We started working on the new bike at Sepang, just a couple of weeks after the final round of 2006 at Valencia. Right away my first impressions were good – obviously power-wise it felt different to the 990 but other than that it just felt like it was rounded-off a bit; not such a knife-edge and a little bit more forgiving. Over the tests we got it dialled in more and more but there were no drastic changes that we had to make – it was just a case of getting the most out of the bike and developing the tyres around it. As far as I am concerned Yamaha did a better job than any of their competitors in getting the best 800cc bike out of the box in those first tests and it was a real advantage for Valentino and myself to be starting from such a good base.
By the end of the third Sepang tests at the start of February we had a machine that was already far better than the old 990cc M1, which is a pretty incredible achievement. It gave Valentino and me a lot of confidence when we headed into the Official Tests at Qatar and Jerez, which we pretty much dominated. That domination continued when we went back to Qatar for the opening round and I was fastest in almost every practice session. I was really disappointed not to follow that through into the race but I had a few grip issues due to the changing track conditions and a near-crash on lap seven or eight so I couldn’t do much more than consolidate sixth place. Things got better in Jerez, where the horsepower deficit to our rivals wasn’t as important, and we got back on the podium after a great weekend. It was kind of the opposite to Qatar because I had some problems in practice but we managed to sort it out for the race and the bike on Sunday felt better than it had all weekend.
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Anyway, that’s enough about racing – I guess you want to hear what else I got up to over the winter, right? Well I’m afraid the answer is a little boring and not the glamorous stories you might be hoping for! The truth is that when the time finally comes for me to go back home to Texas, between all the racing and the winter testing, I just want to spend it with my family and do as little as possible. As you know I have a young daughter, Gracie, who is 4 years old now, and a little boy called Hayes, who is 15 months and growing up fast. Hayes doesn’t really notice whether I am there or not but Gracie has to spend a lot of time during the year without her dad around so I make sure we spend as much time as possible together. Between the Malaysia and Jerez tests we went off on a camping trip with about 10 other dads and their kids to a National Park about 30 minutes from my house. We went on this crazy treasure hunt and the kids ran wild – you can imagine what it got like without their mums there to clean up! Actually, I don’t know who made the most mess – the dads or the kids!
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Other than that I just caught up on some golf and tennis and over New Year we also took the opportunity to enjoy some winter sports in Jackson Hole, where I have a house. I had some friends over from England who joined us, including my motorhome driver Pete – otherwise known as Mr Paddock – and we did some snowboarding, rode around on snowmobiles and just had fun for a few days. Gracie learnt to ski for the first time, which she absolutely loved. It’s great to disconnect from bikes for a while and you don’t get much further from the paddock than halfway up a huge mountain!
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Thanks for all your support – speak to you all soon!
Colin #5
Mugello, Italy
13/6/2006
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Ciao tutti!
Like everybody it has been a very busy start to the season for me and I have had very little time to spend at home in London. I went back there between Istanbul and Shanghai but from China we went straight to Le Mans, which was a very tough and tiring trip. To have such a long journey with two races in just seven days was very difficult but to be honest I was unbelievably happy to be back in Europe. Now the trips are much shorter and I can travel back to London very easily to get some time to myself. I like to use that time to do very simple things, like exercising at the gymnasium, having dinner with friends or relaxing with movies and music.
It is good to be in Europe but I definitely enjoyed visiting place like Qatar, Turkey and China. I visited Shanghai, which is an unbelievable city, and the Chinese fans supported me a lot. Even last year, which was the first time we had visited the country with MotoGP, there was a nice and warm atmosphere, which I was really surprised about. I couldn’t imagine that I would be so popular there, so that was something very exciting for me. I also really enjoyed the Chinese food – I love to taste different foods from all over the world and even though you can get anything you want in London it is nice to try it in the country where it comes from!
I went straight from China to France and on the Wednesday night I watched the Champions League final between Barcelona and Arsenal on the television. I like both teams because they have some of the greatest players from all over the world. I enjoyed watching Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho in the final but my favourite player is still Ronaldo. I am a supporter of Inter Milan and he has been a hero of mine since he played there, even though he now plays for Real Madrid.
Speaking of Barcelona, I was lucky enough to have a quick trip there after we tested for a day at Le Mans. I was invited to the Laureus Sports Awards, a big party with lots of famous people. It was a very special night for me because I was given the ‘Spirit of Sport’ award for my contribution to the profile of MotoGP. This was a huge honour for me because this sport is very close to my heart and I grew up watching it as a fan. For people to think that I have contributed to it in such a special way is fantastic.
My passion for motorcycle racing is just the same as it always was and this is why, as many of you will now know, I have decided to stay in MotoGP and not move to Formula 1. To drive a Ferrari was amazing and if I had taken on the challenge to drive, it would have been a great passion. But to do it well I had to give 100%, and while I still have a challenge in bikes I can’t do that. For some time it was great fun, but to do it seriously while still riding the bike is impossible.
One of the big differences is the role of the rider in MotoGP. To go fast you have to absolutely be a part of the bike. In order to brake well you have to move your weight with the bike; in front, behind, left, right. Instead in the car, you can’t move and everything is done with your hands. This is a big difference. I think this is why a bike rider finds it easier to quickly be fast with the car, rather than the other way around. One of the things I like about motorcycles is that, from the start of the race to the finish, it’s just you and the bike. In Formula One there are many other variables and many other people to consider and to make decisions. They know how the car is going during the race and make some decisions for you and tell you what to do.
Once I had made my decision to stay with bikes there was only one factory for me to turn to, Yamaha. It’s great to fight with the other factories and the new young riders and it’s good for the championship to have Dani Pedrosa on a Honda, Loris Capirossi on a Ducati and Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha. That is the way I want it and I am glad that is the way it will stay.
From Thursday, when we made the announcement, I was able to concentrate only on my home race at Mugello. In practice we did a really good job with the bike and I was happy because we didn’t have any chatter problems, we found a good setting for the race and I qualified on the front row for the first time since Phillip Island! To be honest I couldn’t have asked for much more than this and I needed every little thing in the race because it turned out to be one of the closest and hardest battles of my career.
I got a really good start and after I passed Sete I tried to escape but it was impossible, he was so strong. For a long time I didn’t know where Loris was because he had a bad start but once he arrived I knew I was in for a hard fight. I decided to let him pass and run behind him for a while but I closed the throttle for half a second and three more riders came through! Suddenly I was down in fifth and had it all to do again. It was just an amazing fight for everybody and I think it is fantastic that it went down to the final lap between two riders, two factories and two tyre manufacturers. This is great news for our sport. If I had to bet on who would win the last lap I honestly wouldn’t have been able to choose. I don’t think I took a breath over the last two laps but I made it! To do it in front of so many fans, family and friends is a special emotion.
I enjoyed a little celebration on Sunday night but on Monday it was back to work with a quick test to prepare for a tough run of races. Three GPs in three weekends will be hard work but I’m looking forward to it now after this brilliant win. I hope you enjoyed my first diary and I will speak to you all again soon. Hopefully I will have many more victories to talk about!
Ciao,
Vale #46
| Valentino Rossi |
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Ciao tutti!
Like everybody it has been a very busy start to the season for me and I have had very little time to spend at home in London. I went back there between Istanbul and Shanghai but from China we went straight to Le Mans, which was a very tough and tiring trip. To have such a long journey with two races in just seven days was very difficult but to be honest I was unbelievably happy to be back in Europe. Now the trips are much shorter and I can travel back to London very easily to get some time to myself. I like to use that time to do very simple things, like exercising at the gymnasium, having dinner with friends or relaxing with movies and music.
It is good to be in Europe but I definitely enjoyed visiting place like Qatar, Turkey and China. I visited Shanghai, which is an unbelievable city, and the Chinese fans supported me a lot. Even last year, which was the first time we had visited the country with MotoGP, there was a nice and warm atmosphere, which I was really surprised about. I couldn’t imagine that I would be so popular there, so that was something very exciting for me. I also really enjoyed the Chinese food – I love to taste different foods from all over the world and even though you can get anything you want in London it is nice to try it in the country where it comes from!
I went straight from China to France and on the Wednesday night I watched the Champions League final between Barcelona and Arsenal on the television. I like both teams because they have some of the greatest players from all over the world. I enjoyed watching Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho in the final but my favourite player is still Ronaldo. I am a supporter of Inter Milan and he has been a hero of mine since he played there, even though he now plays for Real Madrid.
Speaking of Barcelona, I was lucky enough to have a quick trip there after we tested for a day at Le Mans. I was invited to the Laureus Sports Awards, a big party with lots of famous people. It was a very special night for me because I was given the ‘Spirit of Sport’ award for my contribution to the profile of MotoGP. This was a huge honour for me because this sport is very close to my heart and I grew up watching it as a fan. For people to think that I have contributed to it in such a special way is fantastic.
My passion for motorcycle racing is just the same as it always was and this is why, as many of you will now know, I have decided to stay in MotoGP and not move to Formula 1. To drive a Ferrari was amazing and if I had taken on the challenge to drive, it would have been a great passion. But to do it well I had to give 100%, and while I still have a challenge in bikes I can’t do that. For some time it was great fun, but to do it seriously while still riding the bike is impossible.
One of the big differences is the role of the rider in MotoGP. To go fast you have to absolutely be a part of the bike. In order to brake well you have to move your weight with the bike; in front, behind, left, right. Instead in the car, you can’t move and everything is done with your hands. This is a big difference. I think this is why a bike rider finds it easier to quickly be fast with the car, rather than the other way around. One of the things I like about motorcycles is that, from the start of the race to the finish, it’s just you and the bike. In Formula One there are many other variables and many other people to consider and to make decisions. They know how the car is going during the race and make some decisions for you and tell you what to do.
Once I had made my decision to stay with bikes there was only one factory for me to turn to, Yamaha. It’s great to fight with the other factories and the new young riders and it’s good for the championship to have Dani Pedrosa on a Honda, Loris Capirossi on a Ducati and Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha. That is the way I want it and I am glad that is the way it will stay.
From Thursday, when we made the announcement, I was able to concentrate only on my home race at Mugello. In practice we did a really good job with the bike and I was happy because we didn’t have any chatter problems, we found a good setting for the race and I qualified on the front row for the first time since Phillip Island! To be honest I couldn’t have asked for much more than this and I needed every little thing in the race because it turned out to be one of the closest and hardest battles of my career.
I got a really good start and after I passed Sete I tried to escape but it was impossible, he was so strong. For a long time I didn’t know where Loris was because he had a bad start but once he arrived I knew I was in for a hard fight. I decided to let him pass and run behind him for a while but I closed the throttle for half a second and three more riders came through! Suddenly I was down in fifth and had it all to do again. It was just an amazing fight for everybody and I think it is fantastic that it went down to the final lap between two riders, two factories and two tyre manufacturers. This is great news for our sport. If I had to bet on who would win the last lap I honestly wouldn’t have been able to choose. I don’t think I took a breath over the last two laps but I made it! To do it in front of so many fans, family and friends is a special emotion.
I enjoyed a little celebration on Sunday night but on Monday it was back to work with a quick test to prepare for a tough run of races. Three GPs in three weekends will be hard work but I’m looking forward to it now after this brilliant win. I hope you enjoyed my first diary and I will speak to you all again soon. Hopefully I will have many more victories to talk about!
Ciao,
Vale #46
Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi reaches another special milestone in his illustrious career next weekend as he contests his 100th consecutive premier-class race in the Grand Prix of Turkey. The Italian and his team-mate Colin Edwards travel to the Istanbul Park circuit, located 300 kilometres north west of the capital city of Ankara, looking to build on tentative first impressions of the track from last year, when they finished second and seventh respectively in a race won by Marco Melandri.
The third round of the current season will also be Rossi’s 160th appearance in all classes since making his 125cc debut in Malaysia in 1996. So far he has amassed an incredible tally of 80 victories, his latest coming just over two weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Qatar; a triumph that also moved the 27-year-old level with Mick Doohan on 54 premier-class wins, leaving him second only to the legendary Giacomo Agostini, on 68.
The Istanbul Park circuit was designed by famed German architect Hermann Tilke, the man behind the Sepang, Bahrain and Shanghai circuits, and was used for the first time by the MotoGP World Championship last October. The spectacular 5.378 kilometre track features fourteen turns – eight lefts and six rights — and like Phillip Island it has the unusual characteristic of running anti-clockwise.
Like the Losail circuit in Qatar, several of the Istanbul track’s corners are based on famous bends at other circuits, such as the ‘Senna Esses’ at Sao Paolo, the ‘Spoon Curve’ at Suzuka and the ‘Eau Rouge’ at Spa. Spectators have ideal facilities to enjoy the action, with seating capacity for around 130,000 fans and an impressive main grandstand which can hold up to 25,000.
Sunday’s schedule will start one hour later than usual, with the red lights due to go out for the MotoGP race at 1500h local time (CET +1).
As well as taking Rossi level with Mick Doohan in terms of career wins, the Italian’s victory at Qatar also pulled him to within striking distance of the all-time record Grand Prix points total, currently held by Max Biaggi. Having now scored a total of 2886 points in all classes Rossi will move ahead of Biaggi simply by finishing in ninth place or above this Sunday. However, as always, his only target is victory at one of only two circuits on the current calendar where he has yet to climb onto the top step of the podium in at least one of the three classes.
“Qatar was like the start of my championship but we’re already behind in the points and we need to do our best to catch up,” said Rossi. “My rivals are very strong and we need to be able to fight for the win again in Turkey. Istanbul isn’t one of my favourite tracks and we had a really hard time there last year – we had already won the championship and it was difficult to stay 100% focused at that stage of the season, plus we had some set-up problems with the bike. This time we go there feeling fully motivated.
“We don’t know how the new bike will react at this circuit; I hope that it will go well and that we won’t have any vibration problems. There are some fantastic fast corners so if the bike is working well it could be great fun to ride there. We tested again after Qatar and we made some improvements, and although we still haven’t completely solved our problems hopefully even if they do reappear at some stage, we’re going to be able to cope with them better now.”
Colin Edwards is keen to get to Turkey this weekend as he aims to convert the fast and consistent pace he has shown during pre-season testing and Grand Prix practice sessions into a solid race result. Eleventh and ninth place finishes from the first two rounds have not been a true reflection of the Texan’s efforts this year and he is keen to turn things around at a circuit he admits he struggled to get to grips with last season.
“I have to say I wasn’t too enamoured with the track when we rode it last October but I was busy trying to adapt to a new riding style at the time and it didn’t make life easier,” says Edwards. “This time my riding style is sorted out but we still have a few problems with the bike so we’ll have to see how it goes. I was very disappointed with the way things went in Qatar but it has been nice to have an extra weekend off over Easter to mull things over and I can’t wait to get out and put it right on the track.
“So far this season we’ve been strong in practice – if anything just struggling a little bit to make the step up on a qualifying tyre but in general the pace on race tyres has been good. We were unlucky at Jerez and I was really confident of a good result in Qatar but we came up against a few problems in the race that hadn’t bothered us in practice. The day of tests after the race gave us some good data to work from and hopefully things run smoothly from day one in Turkey.”
Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio sees this weekend’s race as the ideal opportunity to measure early development of the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine at another challenging and demanding venue. After overcoming initial problems in Qatar to end the weekend with a victory for Valentino, the Italian is hoping for more of the same from his team in Turkey and expects the timing of this year’s race to favour a more fruitful outcome than last October’s event at the same circuit.
“Last year Istanbul Park was one of the circuits where we had the most difficulties but that Grand Prix was the penultimate of the season, when everything was already won,” explains Brivio. “It will be interesting to see how we go this time around, with the race at the beginning of the year and coming at a time when we really need to get some points for both riders.
“It will be a challenging weekend because we still have to fix the problems that we have had with the 2006 version of the YZR-M1. We will test again on Monday in Istanbul after the race, in order to further try to improve the bike. Despite these issues, we showed in Qatar that we can already be competitive and now we have to take that to Turkey. Valentino’s win has given the whole team and the engineers a real boost and the motivation is definitely there to try to win again in Turkey.”
Technically Speaking: Andrea Zugna on Istanbul
Like all Herman Tilke tracks, Istanbul Park possesses a wide variety of corners and the challenge is further enhanced by plenty of gradients, with the track built on four different ground levels. However, by far the most exciting feature of the layout is turn eleven – a fifth gear bend that is taken at speeds approaching 270km/h, making it easily the fastest corner in the MotoGP World Championship. Combined with some of the tightest chicanes on the calendar, the key to set-up at Istanbul Park is about making compromises.
“Istanbul is a tricky circuit because it has some of the fastest corners in the world combined with some of the slowest,” explains Andrea Zugna, Colin Edwards’ Data Engineer. “In turn eleven you need good stability at high speed to give the rider the confidence he needs to attack the corner, but from turn twelve to the end of the lap you have three very slow chicanes which require good agility; so you have to find a balanced set-up between those two characteristics.
“This track is also unique because of the changes of elevation. For example turn one dips downhill before going immediately up again, creating a lot of compression on the front forks. The rider’s skill is also very important because there is only really one racing line and they must find it – especially through the three consecutive lefts in the middle of the lap, where it is also very bumpy. It is important that they have confidence in the front through here. Last year Colin struggled a little because it was the first time he used his new riding style but his pace in practice was good and his fastest lap came towards the end of the race so we know the data is good. Hopefully it will make life a little easier this weekend!”
Michael Schumacher says that he would relish the prospect of motorcycle racing superstar Valentino Rossi joining him at Ferrari.
Recent rumours have suggested that Ferrari could be lining up five-time MotoGP champion Rossi as a potential replacement for Schumacher when the German retires.
But Schumacher told German magazine Motorsport Aktuell that the arrival of Rossi could actually encourage him to stay in Formula 1 a little longer.
“If Valentino was at my side, the situation would certainly be interesting,” said Schumacher.
“And it would certainly not be enough to push me into retirement.”
Away from racing, Schumacher recently sustained a slight ankle injury during a football match.
The F1 record breaker plays for Echichens, a team in the Swiss third division, when his grand prix commitments allow.
Thankfully for Ferrari, his latest sporting injury was only minor.
What is your earliest sporting memory? When I was 10, my father, Graziano, who was also a grand prix rider, took me to a go-kart competition. I finished sixth out of 15 karts. I was happy with that
| NI_MPU(‘middle’); |
When did you realise you would succeed as a motorcyclist? Winning the 500cc world championship at Phillip Island, Australia, in 2001 was a turning point. I became only the third man to win world titles in three different classes. It gave me the belief to be more successful
Who is your sporting hero? Although I am an Internazionale fan, I would say Diego Maradona, who played for Napoli for seven years. He was the world’s No 1 footballer and had spectacular skills
Who else do you admire? Al Pacino, especially in the film Scarface
What would you have done if you had not been involved in sport? I would have probably stolen cars — it would have given me the same adrenaline rush as racing
Away from the track, what ambitions do you have? To relax, maybe start a family and live a normal life. This would be impossible to achieve in Italy, where I am asked constantly for my autograph
What hobbies and interests do you have? Snowboarding, skiing, motocross, watching movies, going to the gym and spending time with close friends in Italy and London
What is your favourite film? The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi
| NI_MPU(‘middle’); |
What is your favourite TV programme? The Simpsons. It is so clever. I watch it all the time
What car do you drive? A BMW M3. I also own a Yamaha motorbike but always respect the speed limit!
What is the last CD you bought? Scissor Sisters. I also enjoy Coldplay and Dire Straits
What is your most embarrassing sporting memory? In 1993, in my first race on a Cagiva 125cc bike in the Italian sport production championship, I fell at the first corner of the practice round in Magione, near Perugia. I recovered to finish ninth in the race because I was not badly injured — just my pride was hurt
The Valentino Rossi Autobiography, What If I Had Never Tried It, Century, £18.99
A couple of weeks after dismissing suggestions that he will test for Ferrari next year, MotoGP superstar Valentino Rossi has admitted he is tempted by the prospect of a switch to Formula 1.
In an interview with The Guardian, Rossi said exchanging two wheels for four to race for Ferrari would be “the ultimate challenge” and appeals to his “crazy” character.
At Monza, Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn claimed that the team had reached an understanding with Rossi that would see the Italian dovetail his MotoGP commitments with an extensive testing programme with Ferrari in 2006.
At the time Rossi poured scorn on the idea that he had made any such commitment.
“Bullshit,” was his crisp response. “How do Ferrari know what I’m doing next year when I don’t know what I’m doing next week?”
However, Rossi has made it clear he is seeking a new challenge after winning everything there is to win in MotoGP, including five successive world titles.
“I do crazy things – like moving from Honda to Yamaha,” Rossi told The Guardian.
“Before that everyone thinks you must ride Honda to become world champion. Yamaha had not won the championship for a very long time.
“[Now] I have won on Honda and Yamaha so maybe it is interesting to win with a third team, Ducati, who are Italian.
“But I could also start F1 or rallying. I love rallying much more.”
Rossi did concede that racing for Ferrari in Formula 1 has a certain allure for him.
“For sure it is the ultimate challenge for me – a crazy challenge,” he said. “Maybe. But I have to decide what is best.”
Rossi emphasised that he would only be prepared to compete in F1 if he had a realistic chance of winning.
“I don’t know what to do. But Ferrari is possible. If I test the car for a year I can be quite competitive the next season.
“I race to win. If I am on the bike or in a car it will always be the same.”
Rossi expressed his satisfaction at confounding doubters within Ferrari with his speed on his first test back in April 2004 – after some initial teething problems while he adapted to an unfamiliar machine.
“When I got ready to drive a Formula 1 car for the first time in my life I hear the Ferrari engineers having bets about me.
“They say if you lap their track at Fiorano in 60 seconds it means you drive the Ferrari quite fast. If you are slower you are not an F1 racer.
“Most of the engineers bet money I never go under a minute. I keep on smiling but, inside, I want to show them.”
Having accomplished that particular mission by lapping in 59.1 seconds, Rossi got down to 57.5s at his most recent test two months ago, and impressed Ferrari with both his pace and his technical feedback.
While he is clearly contemplating a switch to F1, Rossi is apprehensive about the level of media attention he would receive from the Italian press and public driving for the national team.
“It is hard for people in London [where he lives] to understand. I walk around here and I am not recognised much. It’s beautiful.
“The rest of the world is difficult. People chase me. But Italy is the hardest. I go home to see my family but I cannot stay more than three days. There is too much pressure.
“I don’t like being famous – it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse.
“It is a big problem and so I don’t know for sure if I say yes or no to Ferrari.”
From Crash.net
One of the most influential figures in the brilliant career of Valentino Rossi has been his famously laid back father Graziano, himself a former racer who – despite his son’s fame – sleeps in the back of a BMW estate when he attends MotoGPs.
Graziano won three 250GPs on his way to third in the 1979 world championship with Morbidelli, then claimed two podiums to finish fifth overall in the 1980 500cc series with Suzuki. But just how important has he been to Valentino’s career?
"First he was important because he gave me the passion for the bike," said Rossi of his father. "Maybe if Graziano make another work or another sport I wouldn’t have had this passion to be a rider. Also, when I started racing he knew a lot of people and it was more easy for me to find the first bike, so I have a good chance for sure."
And does Rossi still get advice from Graziano?
"I speak a lot with him because he is clever and always gives me clever advice," said Vale. "When I first started riding, when he said something I didn’t listen – because I was young – but now I listen more, I think that is normal. We don’t speak so much about riding now, but more about tactics for the race. He also tells me to try to always understand something when I’m riding."
Nevertheless, Rossi then revealed that Graziano perhaps needs to follow some of that advice himself – and that his father’s own wild style hasn’t mellowed with age.
"Yes – he was quite crazy (on a bike) and also now when he goes on a bike, or sometimes in the car, it is like he has lost a little bit of the concentration – he always makes big mistakes when he races!" smiled Valentino.
© 2009 Valentino Rossi – MotoGP 2010.
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