Rossi F1 stories continue to circulate

The Valentino Rossi ‘will move from MotoGP to Formula One’ story has been doing the rounds once again. In fact, the same story has been a topic for debate for many years and had other previously perceived unlikely news items not become reality – such as Fernando Alonso moving to Ferrari with a year left on his Renault contract and Michael Schumacher defecting from his ambassadorial role with Ferrari to race with Mercedes - it would be easy to dismiss.

However, the last six months has proved that anything is possible in the world of Formula One and again today the wires were ringing with the news that Rossi could – perhaps - make the long-awaited and much anticipated switch to Formula One in the future courtesy of his final hot laps in testing the F2008 in Barcelona.

Rossi completed a two day test at the Spanish Grand Prix venue this week and while his lap times on day one were nothing to write home about, his low fuel fresh tyre run at the close of business on Thursday were impressive. The nine-time MotoGP champion lapped the 4.655km circuit in 1:21.900, just under three-tenths off Kimi Raikkonen’s fastest lap of the race in similar equipment.

While Ducati is keen to secure the 30-year olds services to continue in MotoGP beyond the end of his contract at the end of the season, current Yamaha boss Davide Brivio claims that the greatest threat to losing Rossi is the Italian F1 team.

"I have to be worried about these excellent times because Valentino really could get the desire to change sport," Brivio told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The greatest danger is Ferrari."

While Ducati wait on Rossi’s decision for next season, Ferrari is reportedly still pushing on with their campaign for a third entry. However, with the current Concorde Agreement in place, it would take a major shift by all parties for this to occur before 2013.

This time delay – should Ferrari be unsuccessful in their quest for a third car ahead of a new agreement– makes it seem unlikely that Rossi could race in Formula One short term, but as events in recent months have proved, anything is possible.