with his upbringing in racing i'd be very surprised if he made the switch any time soon
Me too. Problem is also that he is one of the few fast Italians, and the supply of those is running very short. Beyond Iannone (who is even more flawed than Simoncelli) there's basically nobody. Maybe Simone Corsi, but Corsi hasn't exactly been brilliant. So Simoncelli is here to stay, for the moment.