As I said, you confuse your conspiracy theories and theorists. I have never claimed Michelin developed a tyre to favor Rossi this year, my current take as some of those who did subscribe to such a view have said this weekend is that their tyres in general and the front in particular are substandard but favour MM as he can get heat into them, just that those with that view cannot be dismissed out of hand given that it is a matter of historical fact that Dorna have manipulated the tyre rules. I have directly said I don't believe that Bridgestone ever specifically made a tyre for Jorge, just that tyres which did suit him mainly have had restricted availability, this year and previously.
The Sepang incident involved one Yamaha rider and one Honda rider. Yamaha supported their man against a Honda man.
Yes I have and yes you can 'persuade' people to leave while staying firmly within the bounds of propriety.
Never accused you of coming up with the Michelintino theory. Was just making a general observation that if the Bridgestone-Lorenzo angle is true, it provides perspective to the aforementioned theory; and that Rossi is as fast as Lorenzo only because he's got the Michelins.
If Bridgestone developed the tyre in question without outside influence, why would you assume that Yamaha could pressure Michelin into delivering a tyre that was better suited for Lorenzo?
How does the rider/manufacturer championship relate? They just supported a Yamaha rider against a Honda rider.
If there was any conspiracy with the Bridgestone tyre that suited Jorge, it was the removal of another tyre at the same time mid season. I have no doubt there were genuine concerns regarding cold tyre performance of the existing hard tyre, but the new tyre particularly suited Jorge, and the availability of the variety of that tyre which was his particular preference later became irregular. Are you suggesting no decisions about which tyres were allocated were ever made, and Bridgestone just tossed a coin before each round?
Err.. I never alleged there was a conspiracy in play.
I never said it did. I said Yamaha supported Rossi because he was a Yamaha rider, that's all. Nothing unusual about that. Of course, if the Sepang incident had involved an on-track clash between Lorenzo & Rossi, it would have been a different issue.
Yes, I have obviously read that article as well, and as you do with Lorenzo fans get my Rossi fans confused at times, and many were vociferous in their complaints about Jorge whining to get special tyres made for him when they produced the tyre which resembled the previous tyre, just as opposition partisans complained that tyre was not being made available enough. My consistent position since 2008, when I didn't oppose Rossi getting on Bridgestones btw, has been against the control tyre and in favour of a wider variety of tyres to suit a wider variety of bikes and riding styles. Rossi can have whatever tyre he wants, and so should Jorge. MM was always going to win the title this year over Jorge, but I don't think it is drawing too long a bow to suggest Yamaha might have exerted more pressure for a replacement for the Michelin which was withdrawn had Jorge not been an orphan.
Like I said, Yamaha may have assumed a veteran like Lorenzo with 7 years in the premier class did not require refereeing from the team mgmt, where Rossi was concerned. He could take care of himself and going by his results in the second half of the season, he thrived on it.
The financial benefit was there in 2010 as well when YRT showed him the door. And the same was still true in 2016, when his contract was renewed. If anything, Rossi's leverage vis a vis Yamaha had diminished since 2010. Especially in light of Lorenzo's form at the time.
Well, Lorenzo says Yamaha offered him more money than ever before.
'Heavy discussions'... maybe this year when Lorenzo's had some very forgettable outings. Also, I wouldn't read too much into body language. Too vague a thing, in the absence of context.
Definitely not so about the tyres. The conditions which suit Jorge and the tyres which suit him and those conditions are close to being diametrically opposed. Jorge thrives in high grip conditions on high edge grip tyres, Rossi has always been the master of low grip conditions and being able to ride wearing tyres. All you need to do is look at the races they have won over the last 4 years. The problem for Rossi of course is that tyres and conditions which suit him also appear to suit MM just as well.Sorry about the late late late response. Been a busy few weeks.
On the tyre issue, while I have seen no evidence that Yamaha coerced Bridgestone into delivering edge treated tires, I'm sure if they could do the same for Michelin, they'd do so regardless of whether Lorenzo was still in the team.
After all, while Lorenzo has a style particularly well suited to the type, all Yamahas will benefit from better edge grip. Including the Tech 3 M1s and certainly including Rossi.
MotoGP Qatar: Rossi ‘struggling’ with edge grip - 2014
And on Yamaha's 'treatment' of Lorenzo, his recent interview clarifies matters further -
They offered him the best ever contract he's signed. Not really what you'd expect from a team trying ease out a rider.
Meanwhile Yamaha cannot be faulted for wanting to retain Rossi. His star power is massive yes, but also still very fast; second in the championship (again) and 42 pts behind Marquez which isn't a huge amount if you factor in the non-rider DNF at Mugello.
From Yamaha's perspective, there are really only two pertinent questions with respect to Rossi's tyre -
Rossi's problem was an unusually high number of DNFs enabling Marquez to subsequently run relatively low-risk races while managing the points gap.
