I was going to the editorial office when the SMS arrived (Whatsapp was still to come): look at that here in Fiorano there is Valentino Rossi who is about to try the F1. It was supposed to be a top secret test, but you know how certain things go: by mid-day the news had spread all over the earth. From there, and for several years to come, the tests, the hypotheses and the inferences multiplied. I went to re-read Vale’s notes relating to that day and I wondered if and what devilry the Fiorano mechanics had devised to test the true skills of that luxury rookie, as was the custom in those years. That April day was a promise rather than a bet, a commitment made towards the reigning Motogp champion. But in the following years the idea took shape. Luca di Montezemolo liked him, Stefano Domenicali liked him. Those were the years in which the Reds dominated far and wide in the F1 panorama and it seemed that the new challenges had to be invented at home. Putting a champion of two wheels in the car, without any real specific preparation for motoring, and also being able to do so, I don’t say winning, but thriving, would have been the definitive crowning of Enzo Ferrari’s credo: the car and the brand above all else.
Now that Vale has bid farewell to the category that for so many years saw him as a protagonist, I remember one afternoon, again in Fiorano, in which he came to test a prepared GT (and also put it on the wall, with significant damage at the nose) which would later become his. For us in the press office, it was the right occasion to shoot some promotional material. We thought of the old slogan that Valentino had used for one of his commercials, “Think if you hadn’t tried”, and someone thought of overturning it. I don’t remember exactly now, but it may have been his idea. The fact is that he posed in front of the video camera with a sly expression, looked to the side as you do when you fantasize about something and with a half smile said: “Think if I had tried …”.
No one can say for sure what would have happened if he had really tried. I am convinced that over the years Ferrari had become aware of the fact that, even for a brand like that of Maranello, putting the champion of another sport in the car as an official driver was arisky and impractical hypothesis. Not even by setting up, as the then President wanted, a training program that passed through Sauber, which was then completely controlled. But it is also true that, on the other hand, there was a young man but already very aware of the weight of his personality and his abilities. A figure able to transcend sporting merits to create his own “Brand”, as they say today. One who, to be honest, could evaluate the F1 hypothesis by contrasting it with the reality he was experiencing. And he could also afford to say no, thank you, I’ll stay where I am.
I have crossed paths with Vale several times over the years and he has always given me the impression of being smarter and a little less spontaneous than he wanted to appear. I’ve seen him try there Mercedes DTM in Hockenheim (for the record, I arrived on the track when he had just planted himself in the gravel), earn the podium at the 6 Hours of Vallelunga in 2009, participate in the Philip Morris ski week and so on. As a pilot, of the four wheels I mean, I’ve never heard anyone say he was a screwdriver, a poor one, a bluff. Immature maybe yes, but not a “stopped”. However, I know that in the various tests he had carried out on the Red, from Mugello to Valencia with the V10 engine against the eight cylinders, he had been put in a position to make a good impression many times. Those were the years in which Ferrari and Bridgestone had a very close and almost monopolistic relationship. To the point of developing products (such as “full radial” tires) at the specific request of Maranello. Valentino had certainly had a few sets of super tires at his disposal. And they told me how one day, perhaps in front of the headlines, Michael Schumacher both went to the engineers and said: okay, but now enough of these tires for Valentino.
I doubt he did it out of jealousy and I’m sure he didn’t feel threatened in his role as a leader. But it is clear that it was no longer just a game. Also for this reason yesterday afternoon, when the Valencia race ended, I understood why Vale immediately dismissed the sadness, saying goodbye to two-wheel racing. Real sadness would have been to see him run to the bitter end, now only against the registry office. As a car driver, and not only, he has the skills to be able to tell himself that one chapter has only closed and others are opening.
#Valentino #Rampante #FormulaPassionit