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With the news that everyone has been waiting finally out and Valentino Rossi confirmed at the Petronas SRT Yamaha squad for the 2021 MotoGP season, yet another chapter in the Doctor’s incredible 25-year-long story in grand prix motorcycle racing will be written.
Amazingly, given next year will be his 22nd season in the premier class, Rossi has essentially only ridden for three teams so far.
Will this move to a fourth one be as successful as some of his past switches – or closer to the complete disaster of one in particular…?
We look back at the highs and lows of Rossi’s past career decisions:
2002: Nastro Azzurro Honda to Repsol Honda
Less of a change of team than a change of livery, Rossi originally made his 500GP debut in the Nastro Azzurro colours but with full Honda Racing Corporation backing to avoid rules on rookies being stuck straight into the factory team.
It didn’t change much, though – he finished his first season in the class in second place with the squad and took his first premier-class title with it the following season in 2001.
A move to the official colours and four-stroke machines for 2002 didn’t stop the winning ways, either, as Rossi went on to rack up a further two championships for Repsol Honda.
2004: Repsol Honda to Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha
In something of a stereotypical move for Honda, it was an unwillingness to listen to the rider and a subsequent lack of motivation that drove Rossi to seek a new challenge for 2004 – and he quickly found one in the shape of the factory Yamaha squad.
Yamaha had been a race winner only twice in the opening two seasons of four-stroke MotoGP (both times at the hands of Rossi’s fierce rival Max Biaggi), so Rossi set out to do the seemingly impossible by turning a struggling motorcycle into a constant frontrunner – and achieved his goals by taking victory in his very first race in South Africa.
It was the start of a beautiful relationship. Rossi quickly clocked up nine wins in his first year to take the title with ease – and went on to win three more world championships in the next five years.
Even rapid new rookie team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who he would first form a bitter feud with before slowly spending a decade repairing the relationship, wasn’t enough to completely dethrone Rossi when he arrived at Yamaha in 2008. Instead we were treated to some of the most memorable battles of all time between the Yamaha pair and a young Australian upstart called Casey Stoner.
2011: Fiat Yamaha to Ducati
Rossi is nothing if not a dreamer, and surely the ultimate fantasy for an Italian racer is to win with the most fabled of all Italian motorcycling brands: Ducati.
Having previously almost been tempted away from MotoGP entirely by an offer to race in Formula 1 with another red Italian icon, Rossi instead made the historic move up the road to Bologna – and the dream immediately turned into a nightmare.
Persuaded in part by Stoner’s incredible efforts on the Desmosedici, including winning the 2007 title and pushing Rossi close in 2008, Rossi and his core team (with him since the Nastro Azzurro days and still with him to this day) clearly believed they could get the Ducati working again – but it didn’t prove to be as easy as that.
Instead, Rossi found a bike that was almost unrideable. Only three podiums in two seasons followed, as a full-scale reinvention of the wheel inside the garage failed to deliver anything to write home about.
2013: Ducati to Yamaha Factory Racing
After the bitter Ducati years there was a welcome relief when Rossi discovered that there was still a space waiting for him back at Yamaha.
And while he might have lost something against his younger opposition as old age slowly but inexorably crept up on him, consistency and skill kept him right at the sharp end.
It’s almost a sin that Rossi wasn’t able to finally lock down the elusive title number 10 during his second stint at Yamaha. Three times a runner-up in 2014, 2015 and 2016, going up against the incredible talent that is Marc Marquez means that the odds were stacked firmly against him.
There’s still plenty to be proud of in his second, longer, Yamaha stint though, with Rossi nine times a winner and a podium finisher as recently as July this year. And there’s even still a faint chance of title aspirations if 2020 continues to throw curveballs at the whole MotoGP grid.
2021: Monster Energy Yamaha to Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing
It’s perhaps no surprise that in 2021 Rossi will step down to the satellite Petronas squad – less because of his own declining success rate and more because of Yamaha’s desperate efforts to hold on to 2019 rookie sensation Fabio Quartararo.
As Quartararo moves into Rossi’s factory place, Rossi goes in the other direction. And at Yamaha’s satellite team he’ll find a well-oiled operation that knows exactly how to win races thanks to the groundwork laid by Quartararo in 2020.
Will he challenge for the title again? Let’s be honest – it’s unlikely. Will he be able to win races? His chance is as good as it is on the factory bike. Can he remain a regular podium challenger? Undoubtedly!
