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Rossi Urged to Make F1 Switch

Motorcycle legend Mick Doohan has urged Valentino Rossi to make the switch to Formula One

The five-times 500cc champion believes that Rossi should have no second thoughts about turning his back on bike racing if he believes he can make a success of car racing.

"If that's what he wants, that's what he should do," said Doohan, "It will be exciting to watch and I'm sure he's aware that if he's going to come to F1 there's only one way to be in F1 - and that's to be competitive, to be near the front.

"I hope he does it and if he does it I hope he does it for all the right reasons."

Doohan claims that he had offers from Formula One teams to make the switch to F1 but never followed them through because he was only interesting in motorbikes - something that is not necessarily true of Rossi.

"Ron Dennis offered me the possibility to test, but I only did a few demonstration laps when I had common sponsors with F1 teams, like Williams.

"My heart was always with motorbikes and cars didn't have any interest for me. But Valentino is young enough to make a switch.

"He has another good five or six years in him to be competitive in motorbikes, so I would think that anything is possible for him."

Doohan's comments come after David Coulthard warned Rossi on Wednesday that the pressure would be on him to perform in Formula One.

Speaking to Motor Cycle News, Coulthard claimed that Rossi would risk losing fans if he failed to succeed straight away in F1.

"If he does decide to come to Formula One, he is going to have to start winning very quickly or people will start losing interest in him," he said. "Just because you are good at one thing, doesn't mean you'd be good at another."

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