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Quartararo in, Rossi out.
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Not surprising given Rossi's age....
I wont be surprised if he join Petronas for a year, becomes Yamaha Factory Team manager, become the new Dorna manager, or retires to live after 2020...
All the best on any decision he makes on his future...
It does look though as Yamaha has the best/strongest 2021+ team at the moment though....since in my view the Marquez pairing at HRC isnt going to work out for HRC long term....and it leaves Ducati a little bit out in the cold if they dont elevate the likes of Miller and Zarco quickly....KTMs future should be okay so long they bike comes good soon....Suzuki who?
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From bits and pieces of information leaking thru it happened like this.
(Ducati was sure they have got Vinales and missed the whole thing big time, this seems to be a feature of Italian management.)
Yamaha knew they have to act fast to retain Vinales. So it was something like this:
Yamaha: We want you to sign a new contract, now.
Vinales: Will you do what I need to win?
Y: Yes, just name it.
V: Get rid of Rossi.
Y (instant answer): Consider it done, anything else?
And it was done without even notifying Rossi.
(Ducati was sure they have got Vinales and missed the whole thing big time, this seems to be a feature of Italian management.)
Yamaha knew they have to act fast to retain Vinales. So it was something like this:
Yamaha: We want you to sign a new contract, now.
Vinales: Will you do what I need to win?
Y: Yes, just name it.
V: Get rid of Rossi.
Y (instant answer): Consider it done, anything else?
And it was done without even notifying Rossi.
I am not sure I agree with the title of the thread, Valentino’s current contract as I understand it was only until the end of this season, and no-one has said afaik that there was any expectation of him continuing for the factory Yamaha team in 2021, a season when he would be 42 lining up on the grid in Qatar should he continue racing.
I guess he can go to Petronas in 2021 if he has a good year, but even for him it surely has to end some day. The only surprise for me is no mention of Rossi in all this, which may mean he can’t make up his mind about his future including possible future roles for Yamaha (I have always had a theory he told them he was going to retire if he won the 2009 title then changed his mind) rather than that they felt no need to say anything face saving on his behalf. Time marches on, and I guess they had to move quickly to stop MV and FQ signing with Ducati.
I guess he can go to Petronas in 2021 if he has a good year, but even for him it surely has to end some day. The only surprise for me is no mention of Rossi in all this, which may mean he can’t make up his mind about his future including possible future roles for Yamaha (I have always had a theory he told them he was going to retire if he won the 2009 title then changed his mind) rather than that they felt no need to say anything face saving on his behalf. Time marches on, and I guess they had to move quickly to stop MV and FQ signing with Ducati.
Interesting.
That would be the way to go on the Vinales front, I think they had similar preferences including tires.
I still don’t get what is in it for Petronas to sign Rossi. They don’t need the sponsorship money, his results will likely only get worse and he doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes being easy to work with. It makes sense for Dorna to want to keep Rossi around though. Petronas would prefer an upcoming rider I would imagine.
But I’m surprised that Yamaha had the balls to make a quick, smart decision like this. Undoubtably the two best options for them on the grid as far as we know despite Fabio being unproven and Maverick still being Maverick. Lorenzo now the test rider, which kind of doesn’t make a heap of sense to me given he retired because he was worried about being paralysed and being a test rider doesn’t really take away that possibility totally.
Should be an exciting season though and unless Honda fixes/has fixed their front end issues Marquez might have an actual fight on his hands.
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Yet to see any definitive official statement that Yamaha showed Rossi the door. The decision could well be a mutual one. Rossi's known he was past it for some time now.
Unlikely it is mutual given he is still publicly stating he would prefer to race on after this season if he is still competitive. He wanted time that Yamaha didn’t have. Don’t underestimating an athletes refusal to admit when they’re past it or just how past it they are. Rossi has been happy to publicly throw Yamaha under the bus and is surrounded by yes men, in his mind the cause of his poor results is not down to him but to external factors. Most athletes, especially ones not in a team sport think like this IMO.
Yamaha wouldn’t come out and publicly state something against Rossi, there would be no upside to doing so.
I also suspect that to lure Lorenzo back for testing duties Yamaha would have to imply to Lorenzo that he wouldn’t be helping Rossi etc.
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Time for the legend to retire.
Sure, he pretty much lives in a bubble informed by yes men, with Uccio the leading yes man it would appear. It was Uccio who proudly announced that it was he rather than Rossi who detected MM's perfidy at PI 2015.
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I understand that your statement is not word-for-word quote, but still being competitive won't be happening. It's like saying, I would like to still be on the factory team if pigs learn to fly.
If indeed Yamaha forced Rossi out - you can be sure one way or the other that it will come out in the press, and it will happen soon. I seriously doubt they told him to .... off. Maybe they gave him a subtle hint like, "Okay Vale, we want you on for another two seasons and we'll pay you $5,000.00 a year.
If indeed he goes to ride for another team -I would say that could be construed as empirical evidence of his inability to come to terms with his age.
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This will be unpopular with the Rossi fanboys (as opposed to racing fans of Rossi) but this really is a case of 'about bloody time' from Yamaha who have been following the direction of Rossi for the last few years and, well all they have done is gone backwards in terms of an increasing gap to the opposition.
The results produced by Rossi have been quite poor in terms of those of which we know he is capable and while it may be true that he has been competitive against the other Yamaha riders in terms of championship points, this is purely due to his conservative approach of 'not wanting to hurt himself riding a bike that is not good enough' against the other riders being prepared to push to the limit. Even that kind of approach from Rossi shows that hos mind is not what it used to be as in years past he would push an imperfect machine but of late it has been the opposite.
Sadly he has been left behind and I suspect age to be the prime factor to this, but even more sad is the perception given that he would not make the decision but rather needed to have it made for him. Somewhat ignominious ending to what has been a tremendous factory career and really does not look good in terms of his own recognition of just where he is at career wise. We all grow old, we all slow down and we all need to accept when our time is up in our chosen sport but it sure seems like he is struggling, which even though I am not a fan is concerning for me, although not surprising that he fails to see the signs.
That all said, whether it proves the kick for Yamaha waits to be seen but I suspect that it along with having Lorenzo back in the fold will prove a big positive, as afterall, the Yamaha really did go downhill and away from it's DNA once he left.
Finally, to Rossi you have had a great career and been given many an opportunity to live your dreams, which you have done and in that time you have bought excitement to many and played your part in growing our sport, but your time is up and it would be a shame to see you hanging around at the back or mid pack purely because you have let your ego determine your future.
The results produced by Rossi have been quite poor in terms of those of which we know he is capable and while it may be true that he has been competitive against the other Yamaha riders in terms of championship points, this is purely due to his conservative approach of 'not wanting to hurt himself riding a bike that is not good enough' against the other riders being prepared to push to the limit. Even that kind of approach from Rossi shows that hos mind is not what it used to be as in years past he would push an imperfect machine but of late it has been the opposite.
Sadly he has been left behind and I suspect age to be the prime factor to this, but even more sad is the perception given that he would not make the decision but rather needed to have it made for him. Somewhat ignominious ending to what has been a tremendous factory career and really does not look good in terms of his own recognition of just where he is at career wise. We all grow old, we all slow down and we all need to accept when our time is up in our chosen sport but it sure seems like he is struggling, which even though I am not a fan is concerning for me, although not surprising that he fails to see the signs.
That all said, whether it proves the kick for Yamaha waits to be seen but I suspect that it along with having Lorenzo back in the fold will prove a big positive, as afterall, the Yamaha really did go downhill and away from it's DNA once he left.
Finally, to Rossi you have had a great career and been given many an opportunity to live your dreams, which you have done and in that time you have bought excitement to many and played your part in growing our sport, but your time is up and it would be a shame to see you hanging around at the back or mid pack purely because you have let your ego determine your future.
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Yamaha told Rossi that if he wants to continue to race in 2021, they will provide him M1s with full factory support. It seems to me Rossi wants to see if he's competitive enough this year to still want to race in 2021. If he decides to keep racing, he'll do so with his own team and support from the factory. Doesn't seem like there's any bad tension between Yamaha and Rossi. Yamaha had to look to the future for the factory team and when they asked Rossi his intentions, he said was going to wait until mid-season to decide so that opened the door for Quartararo to get the opportunity he deserves.
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If he hangs around another year he can still be competing when MM gets the magical 8th/10th rather than just matching Rossi for gp titles won as he will likely do this year.
Good luck to Valentino, and I actually mean that, but I don’t see what purpose the last 10 seasons, let alone another 1 or 2, have served for him. He doesn’t seem to have even enjoyed himself overly. Had he retired after the 7th/9th title in 2009, which I have long thought may have been his original intention, he would have remained an untouchable ultra-cool legend for ever, instead of which he has proved himself to be capable of being rather peevish since.
