There’s no question that Valentino Rossi is the hottest thing on two wheels at the moment.
The question is, can he be rated up there alongside the greatest of the greats — Giacomo Agostini, Mike Hailwood and possibly the man he replaced at Honda, Mick Doohan? And what comes next for the youngster who in just five years of grand prix racing took the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc titles, and now looks set to romp away with the very first 1 000cc MotoGP World title?
More records? Or perhaps a move to something else?
In the grand scheme of things Rossi’s record is impressive. The 23-year-old has won 41 of the 95 grand prix he has contested in the three classes, and he has climbed the steps of the podium 62 times. Of the 279 men who have ever won motorcycle grand prix, Rossi rates eighth in terms of total wins — Agostini leads with an incredible 122 grand prix wins and 15 titles, but those were scored over 11 years, during most of which he contested both the 350cc and 500cc classes against sometimes lacklustre competition.
Hailwood, considered by many to be the greatest rider ever, took 76 wins and nine titles in three classes in a glittering 10-year career that also saw him often win two and sometimes three grand prix in a single day.
But Rossi claims that he’s not interested in chasing records. In a pre-season interview with grand prix writer Mat Oxley he said as much. “Now we have a new fight with the four stroke. It’s like starting from zero, like changing classes again. But if I win with the four stroke maybe it will be necessary to change sport. I know myself very well, and once I’ve won I don’t find it very interesting to stay on to win again. Breaking records isn’t important to me. Once I’ve won the 250 I’ve won it. Same with the 500. If we win with the [new bike] it will be very satisfying. And after that, I don’t know …”
Which raises an interesting possibi-lity. Only one man has ever won both motorcycle and car grand prix titles. John Surtees took seven bike championships before moving on to race cars in 1961, and three years later he became Formula One champ with Ferrari.
It’s long been thought that nobody would ever emulate the Briton, but if anybody’s ever going to do it Valentino Rossi could be the man. He’s young enough to have a 15-year Formula One career ahead of him. He obviously has the professionalism, the ability to think at speed, the feel for machinery, the courage and the reflexes to at least be in with a chance.
And of course, he loves Formula One — he started his motor-sport career as a kart racer, but moved to minibikes at the age of 13 because karting was proving too expensive. Then there’s the fact that he’s Italian, which always goes down well with the men at Ferrari.