No he wouldn't, because Rossi if things were fair should have won every championship from the year 2000 inclusive on and in all honesty is really going for his 19th rather than his 10th this year.
No he wouldn't, because Rossi if things were fair should have won every championship from the year 2000 inclusive on and in all honesty is really going for his 19th rather than his 10th this year.
Joined Oct 2006
3K Posts | 197+
Living the dream in Scotland
Joined Feb 2007
11K Posts | 2K+
Tennessee
Does this qualify as a rider out of contention acting like a child and interfering with the championship. Rossi admitted to voting for the worse tire to slow down Stoner. I'm still convinced that instance is when Stoner realized he would never be allowed to assert his dominance as he was on the verge of taking over the sport. He may be riding today with a minimum of 4 titles and 3 in a row 11-13 had he not been ...... and retired.
From Motomatters
The decision on whether to switch to the stiffer construction will be taken based on the opinion of the majority of riders. If most of them agree they prefer it, then the stiffer construction tires will be available from Mugello. If most of them don't like it, they will stick with the current, less stiff tire. If there is no clear decision, then the tire will be tested again at the Monday test after Barcelona. Given the feedback I heard from riders after the race, that looks to be the most likely outcome.
The trouble is, of course, that we can't truly trust the feedback we heard. The riders who like it may have a strong preference because they believe it is better, or they may have a weak preference because they believe it can't be any worse than the tires they currently have. On the other hand, the riders who vote to stay with the current tire may decide to do so not because they prefer the current tire, but because they fear that others will benefit if Michelin bring the stiffer front tire.
The same thing happened in 2012. Valentino Rossi, knowing he was in for a second year of struggling with the Ducati, voted for using the softer front Bridgestone for the season. After he left Ducati and returned to Yamaha, he admitted he had voted for the softer front knowing that it was a worse tire. The front tire was the least of his problems, and so handicapping his rivals with a worse tire was just one more strategy aimed at helping him to be competitive. Sometimes, for a racer, making your rivals slower can be just as effective (and much easier) than finding ways to be faster.
From Motomatters
The decision on whether to switch to the stiffer construction will be taken based on the opinion of the majority of riders. If most of them agree they prefer it, then the stiffer construction tires will be available from Mugello. If most of them don't like it, they will stick with the current, less stiff tire. If there is no clear decision, then the tire will be tested again at the Monday test after Barcelona. Given the feedback I heard from riders after the race, that looks to be the most likely outcome.
The trouble is, of course, that we can't truly trust the feedback we heard. The riders who like it may have a strong preference because they believe it is better, or they may have a weak preference because they believe it can't be any worse than the tires they currently have. On the other hand, the riders who vote to stay with the current tire may decide to do so not because they prefer the current tire, but because they fear that others will benefit if Michelin bring the stiffer front tire.
The same thing happened in 2012. Valentino Rossi, knowing he was in for a second year of struggling with the Ducati, voted for using the softer front Bridgestone for the season. After he left Ducati and returned to Yamaha, he admitted he had voted for the softer front knowing that it was a worse tire. The front tire was the least of his problems, and so handicapping his rivals with a worse tire was just one more strategy aimed at helping him to be competitive. Sometimes, for a racer, making your rivals slower can be just as effective (and much easier) than finding ways to be faster.
Joined Nov 2015
2K Posts | 582+
A caravan on an island
The decisions are by majority and Krop knows it, that's just misleading reporting for dramatic effect.
Joined Nov 2015
2K Posts | 582+
A caravan on an island
Mentioning only Rossi as the sole voter when we all know that tyre changes have to be decided by a majority.
Obviously Pov believed it to be that way or he wouldn't have added this to the thread.
Rossi is the guy who actually admitted voting for reasons other than the quality of the 2 tyres involved when there was a previous similar vote however, so I don't believe it is unreasonable to cite him as an example of the vagaries of such tyre votes.
I believe we fundamentally agree anyway, it is ridiculous for bikes with different designs and riders with different riding styles to have to conform with an arbitrary limited control tyre choice, rather than just having a wider variety of tyre choices ffs. I am under no illusions concerning GP bike racing ever returning to a tyre war as is my preference, but surely there can be a wider variety of tyre choices even under a control tyre rule.
Last edited:
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
Joined Nov 2015
2K Posts | 582+
A caravan on an island
So what you're saying is VR has sole responsibility for the single tyre rule, the choice of tyres that btw do not suit him, he has the decision to bring a tyre choice that only works for a few and again not him.
On what other criteria does he get the blame for this?
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
I wasn't talking the single tire rule. I was talking about the fact that we're potentially on the cusp of another midseason tire construction change that only got to the point it did because of Rossi. If Loris Baz or Aleix Espargaro were complaining about the perceived stiffness of the Michelin front tire, do you really think we're at a point where new tires are being tested?
Joined Nov 2015
2K Posts | 582+
A caravan on an island
The two you mentioned, no. The riders that expressed a desire for a new carcass were quite a lot further up the grid , they included Rossi but there were others inc Crutchlow and Marquez.
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
It was already proven that the requests were ........ since the riders you mentioned had no idea about the requests per the Sport Bike Rider article that directly called into question the conveniently timed Crash article that was suddenly accepted as gospel.
Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Wrong again - Márquez was originally referring to compound, but expressed an interest in testing the #70 when questioned in Argentina.
If Michelin started producing tyres made out of concrete, Márquez would be first in the queue to try them out.
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
Marquez could win the world title with concrete tires.
While it would never ever happen, I'd love to see Marc ride Eddie Lawson's 1989 NSR 500 to the edge. Would love to see how he would handle that thing.
Joined Mar 2015
2K Posts | 337+
Chertsey, Surrey, UK
He'd never finish, those bikes were treacherous, you really did have to believe you were invincible.
I think he and Kanamoto did manage by dint of considerable talent to develop and set up the bike to be less treacherous than it had been for others though.
Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
Marc has already shown he has no fear of crashing out which you essentially had to have to ride those beasts.
I actually think mentally, he would have been the perfect rider for the 500cc era as it took an ungodly amount of courage to ride those bikes. I'm always reminded of what Eddie Lawson who was arguably the greatest of the 500cc world champions said and I'm paraphrasing: 'I was practically in tears and thinking this bike was absolutely unrideable." That's perhaps the one lament I have with the electronics revolution is that it took away that aspect of mental toughness/strength that was an absolute requisite to succeed on those machines.
Of the current crop of riders, I think Marc and Valentino would have done well back then. After those two, it becomes a little less certain for me. Jorge I think could have done it as we've seen his mental toughness and willing to work to succeed.
Joined Feb 2007
11K Posts | 2K+
Tennessee
No I knew it was a majority vote, but he purposely voted against his best interest to affect the championship. The question is , did Rossi act like a child by influencing the championship when he was not a contender.
