Ferrari: no pressure on Rossi to decide

MotoGP sensation Rossi recently completed a major run for Ferrari at Mugello in Italy, following two tests for the team at Fiorano, and he has been widely linked with a possible full-time race drive with the team in 2007.

But Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo stated that his team will not rush Rossi into making a decision about his racing future.

"Valentino is a great champion, and maybe there's been already too much talking about him regarding this issue," di Montezemolo told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I think in these matters an ace, a person who's been able to win so much on motorbikes, will know how to assess and choose the right way. In other words, he'll know what to do.

"In the meantime we are very glad we've given him the chance to test and enjoy himself, and it has pleased me greatly to ascertain the attention and professionalism in F1 too of this extraordinary champion.

"Moving to four wheels is a decision which a great champion must take without pressure and hype. Valentino knows that if he decides to come to F1 it's because he knows he'll be able to also win here, that's the challenge.

"If instead he keeps racing on the bike it's because he - like us - is never bored of winning. And he's right about that."

Rossi is competing in the Monza Rally this weekend and has welcomed di Montezemolo's comments - which come after reports suggesting the Italian team have given Rossi a deadline of six months to decide on his future.

"I'm pleased about them," Rossi said of di Montezemolo's words, before elaborating about his recent tests for Ferrari. "I enjoyed myself and I went fast. Maybe even too much, both at Fiorano and at Mugello. I'm happy, there's nothing else to say."

There have been suggestions that Rossi could twin his commitments in MotoGP with a testing programme for Ferrari next year, but the man himself is not sure if such an approach would be right.

"I need to be very careful," he explained. "I'm a motorcycle rider, so if I take part in a championship I do it to win it and I must concentrate on that 100%."