News has emerged that Valentino Rossi was in discussions with Ferrari that could have seen him make his Formula One debut at Monza next weekend.

According to Rossi himself it was only a combination of bad timing and concerns about a lack of physical preparation that scuppered this dream opportunity.

In the build up to this weekend’s San Marino MotoGP Rossi explained, “We spoke with Domenicali, but we had two big problems.

“The first one is the neck, because I don’t know if I would be able to finish the race with my neck. Monza is not very strong (hard) for the neck, but anyway it still needs great effort.

“And also, because we’re fighting for the (MotoGP) championship, for sure the race at Monza would be a big stress and it’s better to stay in MotoGP.”

Don’t you reckon the tifosi would have gone completely nuts if Rossi was driving a Ferrari at Monza! I suppose fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella is the next best thing.

[Source: autosport | Pic: Yamaha Racing | Thanks to Dylan for the tip]