"Yeah, I mean what a target to set yourself? To go and do that," replied Parrish. "My personal opinion is that it's harder to do that now than it was when Surtees did it - what John did was brilliant, amazing, very very special - but I personally think sport in general has got tougher. So to win in MotoGP and
Formula One in this day and age would be virtually impossible, but if anybody can do it he can."
Parrish was also asked which riders have the best chance of challenging Rossi during the 2006 MotoGP World Championship, which starts in
Jerez on March 26.
"
Marco Melandri, providing he gets off to a good start and doesn't fall off to often," declared Steve. "I think
Dani Pedrosa will be good at times but I think he'll struggle to be consistent just because it's his first year.
"Other than that, I'm a bit concerned about the Honda riders at the moment, they don't seem to be cracking on.
Nicky Hayden is a real talent, but he just needs to pick the pace up a bit more. So I would've thought (Rossi's) biggest threat will come from Melandri.
"The Ducatis, who knows? It depends on how the Bridgestones work I guess. That'll be the biggest factor there. Sete Gibernau has looked fired up in qualifying but has already announced that he doesn't have the consistency Rossi has."
And finally, what can we expect from 2005 World Superbike runner-up
Chris Vermeulen during his first full season in
MotoGP, with Suzuki?
"Chris will be able to have a great year learning the circuits; he's got a lot of tracks to learn. Again, it'll be hard for him the first year - physically, mentally and everything else - but Chris a talent for the future and two years down the road he'll be in with a good chance of running for the championship, depending on what bike he gets on," said Parrish.
