This story is from August 23, 2009

How about a Schumi versus Rossi battle

Now Formula 1 has a pain in the neck too! Schumi's much heralded return that would have temporarily brought excitement back to Formula 1 fizzled out.
How about a Schumi versus Rossi battle
Now Formula 1 has a pain in the neck too! Schumi's much heralded return that would have temporarily brought excitement back to Formula 1 fizzled out.
Instead of Schumi, wouldn't it be terrific if the daredevil on two wheels, Valentino Rossi, were to pilot a Ferrari? Formula 1 could do with a personality like that. He has all the ingredients that can bring Ferrari and Formula 1 back on track.
Valentino is Italian, a world champion and young.
1x1 polls
The TRPs would go through the roof if one were to consider that the motorcycle racing fans would join the legions of F1 fans. This would also fill up the empty grandstands at the circuits. However idealistic it may sound there is a scope for this to happen as Rossi has tested F1 cars before and he was found to be reasonably quick.
And before I receive hate mail from Schumi fans let me be unrealistically idealistic and suggest that Schumi drives the other car! This would be the battle of the century as the two wheeler community would put their might behind Rossi and a healthy rivalry will emerge. If Schumi was reputed for his ability to drive a F1 car even on two wheels then Rossi won't have a problem converting from two to four!
The next season could be a mixed bag with 26 cars expected to line up on the grid. New teams will be expected to perform from the word go because they will be unfortunately and wrongly equated to Brawn's performance. But the question that remains is: How many more teams will fall by the wayside by then?
The teams that will bite the bullet are more likely to be the bigger ones as they face the shareholders' ire should they not perform. Toyota's F1 chapter is going through a testing time and although it does show that it has the speed sporadically, there is no significant sign that it can take on the top five constantly. With Ferrari and McLaren finding their own progressively, the task of remaining in the top ten will be an onerous one.
Force India is optimistic that they will be contenders for points on a regular basis. This improvement will only be quantified once Mallya's jinx is broken and Force picks up its maiden points.
The continuous rule changes may result in dumbing down Formula 1 but the upside is that private teams are finding their place in the sun. Now all that is required is to find real characters to give the sport a fillip. Let's pass the hat around until we get about a 100m Euros for a Rossi/Schumacher fund (annually) and watch them breathe life back into F1. What say?
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA