After Scuderia Ferrari rounded out a week of public testing in Barcelona which saw them firmly back on top of the timesheets, MotoGP star Valentino Rossi prepares to test for the team in public for the first time this coming week in Valencia.

The bike ace will be thrust into the spotlight when he joins the team in Valencia for the official F1 test sessions, with Toyota, Honda, McLaren-Mercedes, Williams and BMW Sauber all expected to be in attendance. Thus far the reigning MotoGP World Champion, who won 11 Grands Prix on his way to a fifth consecutive world title, his seventh in total, has conducted three very private tests for Ferrari without any laps times being revealed. Two took place in the privacy of Fiorano, the third at Mugello. However, now he will be catapulted onto the Spanish track in the company of most of the other F1 race and test drivers, and with the clock running. One help though will be that he knows the Valencia track well as it is a regular feature of the MotoGP calendar.

The news that Rossi will be on track in Valencia with a modified F2004 chassis demonstrates that Ferrari are now taking the possibility of him driving for the Scuderia in 2007 very seriously, with an track evaluation which will really throw the 26-year-old in at the deep end. "He doesn't have a gun pointed at his head to make a decision," said Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo last week. "Valentino is a great champion, and he's an intelligent guy: he knows that, if he decides to go to F1, he'll do it to win and not to be a sidekick. I must also say that the motorbike is one thing and auto racing is another, so these things are up to the driver," he added.

Seemly never ending speculation about a switch from two to four wheels for Rossi, and emulating the achievements of John Surtees, has surrounded Italy's most famous and exciting current sportsman for months now, fuelled by the fact that both Ferrari's 2006 F1 drivers will have their contracts end this season.
 

The team's new Brazilian signing Felipe Massa, who replaces his Honda-bound countryman Rubens Barrichello, has only been handed a one-year contract with the Scuderia, while seven-times F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher has recently stated in public that he will consider any possibility of retirement during this course of this season.

This week's testing schedule in Valencia will come hard on the heels of last week's extensive running by the Scuderia, on two fronts. It was a very pleasing week's work for the Italian team who are seeking to put last year's uncustomary poor showing firmly behind them and bid for title glory once again. Tuesday saw the new 2.4-litre V8-powered car, christened the 248 F1, launched infront of the media at Mugello where immediately it got on track completing 44 laps in the hands of Michael Schumacher. At the same time the Scuderia's official test driver Marc Gene was kicking off the action at Barcelona with an F2004 chassis powered by the new V8 engine at his disposal. Sharing the track with BMW Sauber, McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull, the Spaniard completed a total of 88 laps, his quickest in a time of 1:16.581 the fastest of the day and over a second clear of Jacques Villeneuve in the new BMW Sauber F1.06.

Tuesday saw new signing Felipe Massa taking to the Catalan track, with a modified V8-powered F2004M chassis. The Renault, Honda and Toyota teams all joined in the action as the official F1 test programme stepped up a gear. The Brazilian driver carried out an engine development programme, in collaboration with Shell and also worked on the Bridgestone tyres. Massa completed a total of 67 laps, his quickest lap in a time of 1:15.679 put him on top of the time sheets, half a second ahead of Fernando Alonso's Renault R26.

Both the Scuderia's official race drivers, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, were on duty on Thursday in Barcelona as the poor conditions continued to deteriorate. The German driver got behind the wheel of the new Ferrari 248 F1 continuing development work which had begun back on Tuesday at Mugello but which had to be curtained due to the unfavourable weather conditions. Schumacher completed a total of 78 laps during the day, the quickest in a time of 1:16.888, the eighth fastest time of the day overall. At the wheel of an F2004M fitted with the new V8 engine, Felipe Massa worked on a tyre and engine development programme. His best time was a 1:15.964 and he covered a total of 73 laps. It was good enough to keep Ferrari firmly on top of the timesheets for a third consecutive day, three tenths ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the Honda RA106.