Rossi to Petronas in 2022

Rossi to Petronas in 2021

Hope everyone is safe and well.

GPone is reporting that a deal has been struck between Rossi and Petronas for a 1 year contract for 2021 with an option to extend to 2022.

Apparently the only bit to finalize is what crew he takes with him (more or less a straight swap with Quartararo's crew moving to the factory team).

Morbidelli will be the other rider (putting to bed the Lorenzo/Rossi 'superteam' rumor).

That's if we're racing again by 2021 of course...

Macca

Edit - The thread title should obviously say 2021

If it happens its a retrograde step back for Petronas IMO, they should be the feeder to the factory team.

Theo said:

If it happens its a retrograde step back for Petronas IMO, they should be the feeder to the factory team.

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Agreed. But Rossi is $$$

Barbedwirebikerr said:

Agreed. But Rossi is $$$

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Granted, but $$$ don't win championships.

Theo said:

Granted, but $$$ don't win championships.

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With current events $$$ are probably everything.


I don't get why Rossi wants to do it though.

Sure he loves riding, and in 2013 and 2014 I genuinely believed him when he said he was glad to be back riding competitively even though he wasn't really in contention for the title, contrasting himself with Jorge and Dani. Surely a rider of his stature can't enjoy being relegated to being a satellite rider, and riding around behind the leading pack with no chance of winning watching a guy he seems to dislike fairly intensely obliterate all his records, at whom he still takes the occasional shot for "stealing" a title from him.

He still gets plenty of adulation I guess, and $$$ himself of course, and perhaps his star has dimmed in terms of managing his own team, and the Yamaha factory team in particular; perhaps this is a prelude to him managing the Petronas team.

I think this may have a little to do with what Rossi is wanting to do when he finally retires. I am sure Yamaha wants to keep Rossi attached to their brand, while for years Rossi has been hinting about his own GP team, this could very well be part of that transition processes.

This CRASH article is an interesting bit of info regarding Petronas SRT Yamaha boss Razlan Razali's thoughts on bringing Rossi onboard.

CRASH Article - “We won’t change team 360-degrees just for Rossi” – PSRT’s Razali

Also a lot of good thoughts in the comments section so look for that.

Mrpurple said:

Also a lot of good thoughts in the comments section so look for that.

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If it is a prelude to Rossi managing the team as some of us speculated no wonder the current manager isn't happy.

Who knows ?. I can't see him beating the young guys on the factory Yamahas so it would need more than an injury to MM for him to get the 10th title if that is his motive for continuing. I guess he doesn't even want a hiatus away from the sport, and Yamaha I am sure want him associated with them in perpetuity; he is money for them, something they are doubtless not keen to throw away in current world circumstances.

The worm has certainly turned on Crashnet going by the comments. One concerned Lorenzo and Rossi ending their riding careers as test riders; something almost as extreme happened with Eddie Lawson, a true great of the sport, who ended his career riding for Cagiva after only one intervening year following his 4th title win, for whom he actually won races which probably added to his legend rather than diminishing him. Rossi going so close to winning the title at a year older than Eddie was when he retired was quite something as was noted in the comments section, but I somehow don't see him repeating that feat 6 years on, and his preferences seem to clash with those of the younger Yamaha riders these days which might be problematic for Petronas.

Rossi still has the most pull in MotoGP, if and when he decides to start a GP team it will happen, and he will have plenty of options.

Is the money that VR brings in worth the wet blanket he throws over teams, especially the new hotness Petronas.

He also has been holding up a very valuable seat.

Theo said:

If it happens its a retrograde step back for Petronas IMO, they should be the feeder to the factory team.

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Ye, like u know that before the season has even started?

Mrpurple said:

Is the money that VR brings in worth the wet blanket he throws over teams, especially the new hotness Petronas.

He also has been holding up a very valuable seat.

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I'm not sure what metric you're using to say that he's holding up a valuable seat. If you're referring to his age and particularly, his lack of potential beyond what he's currently showing then there are certainly other riders on the grid holding up valuable seats.

imunderandoverit said:

Ye, like u know that before the season has even started?

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You only have to look at his record last year, from 3rd in 2018 to 7th. Where will it go when this season starts10th or worse?

There also are only 6 factory teams, we all know that the chances of a satellite team winning are practically nil, yet there are some very good riders on satellite machinery who would do better than |Rossi on a factory bike.

misfit said:

I'm not sure what metric you're using to say that he's holding up a valuable seat. If you're referring to his age and particularly, his lack of potential beyond what he's currently showing then there are certainly other riders on the grid holding up valuable seats.

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I would consider the Yamaha and Suzuki seats much more valuable than the Honda and Duke ones simply for ease of use for rookies on the way up. VRs trend has been down for how long now?

Yamaha may still have JL if Rossi had retired when he (imo) should have, say between 2010 and 15.

The factory teams often have the advantage of developing new components that in theory should make the bike better. Though sometimes the factory teams over complicate the bike and that can waste valuable practice time for the riders... This might end up being an advantage to Rossi, allowing him to just go out and ride and not having the burden of dialing in new components. Of course if Val decides that he needs a specific component from Yamaha he will get it, unlike other satellite riders.

misfit said:

I'm not sure what metric you're using to say that he's holding up a valuable seat. If you're referring to his age and particularly, his lack of potential beyond what he's currently showing then there are certainly other riders on the grid holding up valuable seats.

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Sure, someone mentioned Critchlow in the comments section after the article.

The problem for me is that his set-up and tyre preferences seem to be different to the younger riders who seemed to be better suited to a Lorenzo style bike, and the Petronas manager seemed to be worried they might have to change their whole direction.

Theo said:

You only have to look at his record last year, from 3rd in 2018 to 7th. Where will it go when this season starts10th or worse?

There also are only 6 factory teams, we all know that the chances of a satellite team winning are practically nil, yet there are some very good riders on satellite machinery who would do better than |Rossi on a factory bike.

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Vin didnt do a whole lot better. He will have a full factory bike in a satellite team.

who knows, at this time
the most certain is the uncertain

imunderandoverit said:

Vin didnt do a whole lot better. He will have a full factory bike in a satellite team.

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I don’t know whether Vinales really has it or not, but he was reputedly leaving Yamaha if they didn’t make the bike suit him instead of continuing to go Valentino’s way. FQ was very fast at least on the satellite bike if not quite having the racecraft yet, and the Petronas manager eems concerned about the direction things might take with Rossi riding for Petronas. The younger riders seem to lean more towards the way Lorenzo went, including Zarco.

If he has a full factory bike I guess Petronas can still run the other bike and rider their way, so he might be peeved about not being unable to bring on a prospect they had in mind rather than anything else.

The Nastro Azzuro single bike team with a factory bike and crew he had at the start of his premiier class career has been said to have been Valentino’s preferred/ideal setup, so maybe this is as close as he can get to that now. Unfortunately the intervening 20 years might militate against similar success.