It has been in the planning for quite a while and today at Wrooom 2010 Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali officially confirmed that Valentino Rossi will be back behind the wheel of a red Formula 1 single-seater. The Italian rider's latest test comes after Rossi clinched the 2009 MotoGP World Championship title, his ninth world title and his sixth in the MotoGP series. Rossi first tested a Ferrari almost four years ago and has conducted a number of tests with the Scuderia since.

"Chairman Montezemolo had promised it to him after he won the World Championship again,” the Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal said during the news conference in Madonna di Campiglio. "Valentino will drive in Barcelona on 20 and 21 January behind the wheel of a F2008. After that we’ll concentrate on our respective goals: Moto GP for Vale and Formula 1 for Ferrari. If I’m his fan? Our relationship regarding esteem and friendship says it all.”

Asked about a possible future for Rossi behind the wheel of a third Ferrari in Formula 1 Domenicali said: "Never say never. There has been discussed a lot about a third car and this could be a hypothesis of an interesting improvement for the whole world of Formula 1, even more if as a result Rossi had the possibility to race in our sport. This is not true only for Ferrari, but also for the other teams: when we’re talking about a third car we don’t necessarily mean that it has to be three cars in our team, but we might also give our single-seater to be run by a small team.”