Ferrari wants to give third car to small team
Originally, the idea was to field an additional Maranello-built single seater in order to accommodate Michael Schumacher, who instead is making his return this season with Mercedes GP.
Ferrari's three-car ambition did not get the go-ahead, but at the Madonna di Campiglio media event on Wednesday, team boss Stefano Domenicali raised the prospect of Valentino Rossi switching from MotoGP.
"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," he explained.
F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone arrived in the Italian Dolomites on Wednesday, and he showed support for Domenicali's proposal, while at the same time expressing concern about the health of some of the sport's new teams.
"I believe that one or two of them would be much better off if they could use a car obtained from another team," he is quoted as saying by the German news agency SID.