Valentino Rossi says he will take three of his current Yamaha MotoGP crew members with him to Petronas Yamaha in 2021, as he prepares to announce the deal in the very near future.
The three members of his current crew that will be be joining him next year are new-for-2020 crew chief David Munoz, data engineer Matteo Flamigni, and rider coach Idalio Gavira.
That means that the veteran Southern Hemisphere core of his original team, Alex Briggs and Brent Stephens, won’t be working with him in 2021 for the first time since he made his premier class debut in 2000.
Rossi’s Petronas deal was expected to be made official on Thursday, but when asked about it by The Race, the seven-time premier-class champion said the agreement would now be formalised later in the Barcelona MotoGP weekend.
“Like I said last week, we tried to sign during the weekend [at the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna] because between the two races at Misano we fixed all the details,” said Rossi.
“The situation is very clear, I will race with Petronas next year, but the contract is long and we’re in no hurry.
“During this weekend, I will sign it and I will continue next year with Yamaha and Petronas, and we’ll let you know as soon as possible!”
He also brushed off the latest delay as simply being due to all parties taking their time in ensuring that the deal is perfect before pens are finally put to paper.
“Sometimes in MotoGP we sign the contract for next year too early and sometimes you’re already thinking of next season before the current one is over. Step by step, everyone is signing a lot earlier – for example, we sign a lot earlier than Formula One,” he added.
“I agreed with Yamaha and with Petronas from Jerez, but because we are OK we haven’t made the deal in a hurry. It’s an important contract so there are things to fix: the technical details, the bike, the team.
“In general we’re not in a hurry and I’m happy.”
