Riders and teams – Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi is postponing his retirement to 2021! – Used YAMAHA

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Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi postpones his retirement to 2021 !

Riders and teams - Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi is postponing his retirement to 2021! - Used YAMAHA

Unable to compete in the first MotoGP races due to the coronavirus, Valentino Rossi cannot assess his level as he wished to decide his future. Consequence: the nine-time world champion of 41 years will continue his career at Yamaha-Petronas in 2021! Explanations.

Could the Covid-19 have positive sides? Valentino Rossi’s decision to continue riding MotoGP next year is in any case linked to the coronavirus pandemic !

  • MNC of January 29, 2020:
  • MNC of January 10, 2020 : 
  • MNC file : 

In a videoconference interview with his team-mate Maverick Viñales, Rossi admits he is "in a tight spot because as I said before, trying to continue was my first option." The fastest forty-something in the world had indicated last year his desire to gauge his competitiveness in the first races of the season to decide the rest of his career.

"I feel that I have enough motivation and I want to continue! But on the other hand it’s important to gauge our level, especially after the second part of the 2019 season: I was too slow, I was fighting outside of the Top 5 ", underlines the star of the Grands Prix who finished the season in a distant 7th position and – again – without any victory.

"This is why I had given myself five or six races to make up my mind, with a new chief engineer and some internal modifications. The problem is that: I will therefore have to make a decision without having taken part in any race", regrets the n ° 46 while the recent pushes back the start of the season to the end of July … at best !

Riders and teams - Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi is postponing his retirement to 2021! - Used YAMAHA

"This is not the best way to end his career: imagine that we do not ride this year!", Rightly considers the most capped of the pilots of the modern era of the Grand Prix (9 titles, 115 victories, 234 podiums and 65 pole positions). It would be better to play another season and stop at the end of it, so I hope to continue in 2021 ".

Valentino Rossi would therefore join the private Petronas-SRT team, as. The fantas (ti) that Italian would pilot an M1 directly supported by the factory, in accordance with .

  • MNC of January 29, 2020 : 
  • MNC of January 28, 2020 :

Irony of the operation: Rossi would take the place of Fabio Quartararo … who succeeds him within the official team! To date, however, the Malaysian team ensures that it has not yet made contact with its probable future driver: the leader of the Petronas-SRT team does not hide a certain anxiety at the idea of ​​running a star of this caliber….

Rossi, source of inspiration for Viñales

And what does Maverick Viñales think? Is the young Spaniard relieved by the departure of his experienced teammate, who places him de facto as the new leader of the Yamaha clan alongside the gifted Fabio Quartararo ?

Riders and teams - Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi is postponing his retirement to 2021! - Used YAMAHA

"As you know, Fabio will be my teammate next year," recalls the n ° 12. "But as I have said on several occasions, I am a little disappointed because I get along very well with Vale and that I learn a lot from him. It was a decision of Yamaha," he said. to underline to mark an obvious disagreement with the team’s strategy.

"I like to share the track and fight against him: he always pushes you to surpass yourself. And then, I do not know why, but I have always seen him with a smile even in difficult times", wonders "Mack" who has often been criticized for the opposite attitude.

"We have also thought about it several times between us in the team" But how does he do it ?! "Vale gives everything he has on the track, while keeping this joie de vivre even if the results don’t follow. That’s what I learned from him: to be happy even when things are bad. But it took me months to figure it out. ".

Riders and teams - Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi is postponing his retirement to 2021! - Used YAMAHA

"You know, if I was 25 like Maverick and wanted to win the championship at all costs, it would be clearly more difficult to have this hindsight," smiles Maestro Rossi, touched and flattered by the compliments of his teammate. "But with experience, you understand that you can change some things by training more and being more focused, but everything else you cannot change". 

Rossi and Lorenzo again in the same team ?

Valentino Rossi has also given his opinion on the rumors of a possible full-time return of Jorge Lorenzo in 2021 to Yamaha-Petronas, possibly alongside him !

Riders and teams - Still affected by the motorcycle virus, Rossi is postponing his retirement to 2021! - Used YAMAHA

"I think Franco (Morbidelli, current second Petronas driver, Editor’s note) wouldn’t be very happy! It’s a problem, because last year Franco was good, but Quartararo was even better. [… ] I don’t know what Lorenzo will decide, but maybe Yamaha will have to run five motorcycles! ", Laughs – halfway? – the genius of the Alpine pastures…

As for his post-Grand Prix future, Rossi imagines him in the paddock for a few more years to oversee his Moto3 and Moto2 teams before embarking on a conversion into car racing, for which he has a fondness from an early age..

"I want to compete in some car championships and set up a program of seven or eight races per year: it’s my plan for the future", indicates the motorcycle Grand Prix maestro whose retirement will leave a gap difficult to fill for the fans … and the championship organizers !

Video of the Rossi-Viñales interview 

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