They certainly did. There was some whinging about it by Rossi fans, including the notorious Wosi, hater of all things non-Rossi whom I formerly debated on another forum.
Internet debates aside, is there any actual evidence that Yamaha prevailed upon Bridgestone to develop a tyre well-suited to Lorenzo?
That would provide any entirely new twist to the ongoing 'speculation' about Dorna conspiring with Michelin to produce up a Rossi-specific tyre.
I think it is quite possible to come up with good arguments for Yamaha wanting to back Rossi, whether or not I agree with them, but arguing that Lorenzo went to Ducati independent of whether he was happy with his situation at/treatment by Yamaha is disingenuous as I said, just as it would have been with Rossi in 2010. You can argue both should have been happy with equal status at both times, but Jorge was defending champion this year which Rossi was not, and Rossi will now be 38 in 2017 rather than 32 as he would have been at Yamaha in 2011.
He'd of course be happier if Rossi weren't around (just as Rossi would be happier if Lorenzo weren't around), but I don't see why that would hamper him from reaching his full potential as a racer in 2017/2018. His 'treatment by Yamaha' has been quite professional; this is his 7th year partnering Rossi, he could have comfortably made it to No.9 as well.
More importantly, what exactly are you suggesting that Yamaha should have done (tyres apart)? They
did after all offer him a contract. Now if he'd been demoted to #2 status, I'd agree that Yamaha wasn't giving him a fair shake.
There's nothing unfair about equal status with Rossi. Sure he was world champion at the time, but then Rossi being world champion (in 2009) didn't stop Yamaha gave Lorenzo equal standing. Rossi may be 37 going on 38 but he's still racing as fast as Lorenzo and therefore deserves parity in the team.
Jorge as well as saying he wanted to retire a Yamaha icon which you have chosen to ignore in your reply also said directly that he thought Yamaha preferred Rossi to win early this season.
Rossi in 2008 said that he'd finish his career on a Yamaha (well, he
will but not the way he implied it). People change their minds. And as you yourself have mentioned earlier, Lorenzo has dallied with other options in the past; he finalized his 2014 contract more than a month after Rossi did, following on plenty of speculation about moves to Ducati & Honda.
As to the other matter, question is, why after supposedly being arm-twisted by Dorna into taking Rossi back, does Yamaha favour him today.
Lorenzo in the very same interview clarifies matters further -
"I have never been worried about Rossi being more media-friendly and that he has more photographers around him. And I even see it as normal that Yamaha prefers him to win because of his popularity, because that way it would have sold more bikes.
"To me, the only thing that matters is to have the same equipment because I trust in my abilities and I know that with those rules I will do well. In that sense, this company is Japanese and very serious and it has always supported me as much as possible."
With his experience, grit & self-confidence, I'd say Lorenzo needs less emotional babysitting than any other rider on the grid.
