It may seem as though Michael Schumacher and Ferrari will dominate formula one (F1) for the foreseeable future, but with a bit of research and crystal ball gazing it is possible to come up with a good prediction of who the team may be looking at as his successor.
In 1964 John Surtees became the first and only motorcycle world champion to take the coveted F1 title, driving a 158 for Ferrari. Surtees’s task was not an easy one. After making the transition to four wheels, he had to compete against a star-studded field that included the likes of Ritchie Ginther, Graham Hill, Mike “The Bike” Hailwood, Jim Clark, Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren.
Surtees arrived in F1 with seven motorcycle titles under his belt, which he won between 1956 and 1960.
There is another motorcyclist capable of repeating Surtees’s awesome accomplishments — Valentino Rossi, the youngest ever rider to win titles in three different classes.
Rossi is also the fourth-youngest rider ever to win the 500cc title after Freddie Spencer, Hailwood and Surtees. Such is the talent of this young man that he won 38 grand prix races before turning 23.
Born in Italy 25 years ago, his pedigree is probably longer than that of the queen’s corgis. He started his professional career at age 17 at the Malaysian Grand Prix on an Aprilia, and took his first win a few months later at the Austrian Grand Prix in the 125cc class.
He switched camps from Honda to Yamaha this year in a move that astounded his admirers and pundits.
Honda and Rossi were in a class of their own last year and moving to Yamaha was seen as unwise by all. But, as they say, money talks.
To date the Italian has not had it all his own way, with Spain’s Sete Gibernau on a factory Honda showing “The Doctor” a clean pair of exhausts on at least two occasions. Gibernau has also managed to close the gap between him and Rossi to five points after the Catalunya round.
But there’s more to the flamboyant Rossi than loud earrings and nose plasters, sensational burnouts and wheelies. Rossi had been invited to test one of Ferrari’s F1 cars at the team’s circuit, Fiorano, on 21 April this year, a present or prize awarded to him by then Ferrari president Luca de Montezemolo for winning last year’s MotoGp title.
Logically, the management team at Maranello gave Rossi last year’s F2003GA model to play with, while Michael Schumacher, teammate Rubens Barrichello and tester Luca Badoer did development work on the F2004 model.
After just 20 laps, Rossi had broken the one-minute barrier, and not only brought their scarlet steed back to the pits in one piece, but also stopped the clocks in a rather brisk 59,9 seconds. Rossi’s time may have been 1,5 seconds off the pace of current F1 champion Michael Schumacher in the brand new car, but his first attempt at F1 driving left pizza ovens in the surrounding area at near spontaneous combustion levels.
The result of Rossi’s performance on the F1 track has been a deafening silence from Ferrari. Although Schumacher and Ferrari, through cleverly worded writs from the team’s spin doctors deny any possibility of the German ace retiring any time soon, the writing is on the wall.
The F1 champion has untold wealth — rumour has it that he’ll earn about $35-million this year, a sum that excludes endorsements and performance bonuses. He has also shattered every record in the sport except that for pole position, which is held by the late Ayrton Senna (65 versus 60).
Ferrari has the services of Schumacher until 2006, but in what role, no one is saying. The team’s three main players, South African designer Rory Byrne; team manager Jean Todt; and master tactician, Ross Brawn, have similar contracts. With the departure of president Luca de Montezemolo to the Agnelli group, Ferrari will have to do a little forward planning.
Schumacher could quite easily end up as mentor to its drivers and ambassador for the team in the near future, and while Rossi does not own a super licence, a year of testing and familiarisation with the team will give him the necessary credentials to race in 2006.
Problem is, if Rossi does win the title for Yamaha this year, the motorcycle manufacturer will be extremely loath to see him elsewhere, except on the tracks again next year bearing the number one plate on his machine.
But then there’s that Italian passion. Nothing will give the Tifiosi something to shout about more loudly than a highly talented Italian in red overalls, driving a Ferrari, with the customary 46 painted on its nose.
Whether Ferrari will get that one past the FIA, F1’s governing body, is another story. Drivers can be bought out of their contracts (McLaren’s Ron Denis is rumoured to have handed over $10-million to Peter Sauber for the services of Kimi Raikkonen) and extricating Rossi from the grip of Yamaha will not be painful for a team whose budget is about $400-million a year.