Trulli: Todt offered me Ferrari seat

Jarno Trulli has revealed former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt once offered him a race seat at the Maranello-based squad…

Jarno Trulli has revealed former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt once offered him a race seat at the Maranello-based squad.

The 37-year-old Italian’s Formula One career appears to be over after Caterham decided to drop him in favour of Russian Vitaly Petrov.

Trulli, who made his F1 debut with Minardi way back in 1997, claims former Ferrari boss Todt made the offer to him when he was driving for Toyota between 2005 and 2009.

“Nobody knows this, but at this point I think I can publicly thank Jean Todt for having been one of the few top team managers to consider me during my career,” Trulli told Italy’s Autosprint. “No one knows this, but Todt offered me a seat at Ferrari.

“I won’t tell you when exactly: I was racing for Toyota and I was doing very well. But I had signed a rather long contract with the Japanese, and in my career I’ve always honoured my commitments. In 15 years of F1 I’ve never needed lawyers.”

He added: “I thank Todt not only for having offered me a drive at Ferrari, a chance that unfortunately I couldn’t accept, but also for every time I asked for advice and received fine indications with a friendly approach.

“He has always been very honest with me. I’ve always kept this thing for me, but since today it’s thanking time, I’ve felt like doing that. Regardless how things went, for a moment I felt I was a Ferrari driver.”