Valentino Rossi has admitted that he does harbour 'some regrets' about not having made the switch across to Formula 1 when he had the opportunity to do so, revealing that he remains 'curious' as to what he may have achieved in MotoGP's four-wheeled equivalent.

The seven-time world champion tested on a number of occasions for Ferrari, most recently at Valencia in Spain in early 2006, when he lapped competitively just a second adrift of Michael Schumacher, who has won as many titles on four wheels as Rossi has on two. Though ultimately he elected not to make the cross-over, it was a decision that he has since looked back upon, he confessed, with the occasional tinge of 'what if..?'

“'Sorry' is not the right word,” the famously flamboyant Italian told Affari Italiani, “but I do have some regrets, because I am still curious to know what I could have done.

“I was doing well in testing, [and] it had always been my dream to race with Ferrari, but at that time I was not ready for the jump and I was in the middle of motorcycle [racing].

“Driving F1 cars is extremely satisfying. It is less a vehicle and more like an aeroplane, giving you great sensations, but for a motorcyclist it is also a strange feeling, putting your legs into a black hole.”

Since then, of course, the 29-year-old has gone on to equal the great Angel Nieto's tally of 90 victories by triumphing at Le Mans last Sunday, but he insisted the lure of car racing had not been entirely extinguished within him, and hinted at a possible rallying future once he hangs up his bike helmet.

Rossi first officially tried his hand at professional rallying with a foray on the British event of the World Rally Championship calendar in late 2002, crashing out early on. He has since competed on a number of further rallies, finishing an impressive eleventh outright on Rally New Zealand in 2006 and triumphing on the annual Monza Rally just a week later, winning five of the seven stages en route before repeating his success the following year.

With suggestions that he is on the verge of renewing his Yamaha deal in MotoGP [see separate story – click here], however, that day may still be a while off yet.

“I want to do some more racing [in MotoGP],” the man from Urbino stressed, “and then I want to spend some seasons with my passion – cars. Perhaps [it will be] rallying, [or] maybe something else.”