Valentino Rossi MotoGP Sepang Test 2018 Motorcycles News 19

Rossi extends MotoGP and switches to Petronas Yamaha?

4. January 2020

3 min read

Valentino Rossis will also compete for the Yamaha factory team in 2020. The 9-time world champion has so far left open how he will go on afterwards, whether he will continue or end his career. Now Rossi was talking about his considerations.

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It looks like Rossi doesn’t want to end his career yet, because for the first time he doesn’t rule out to ending his career not in the Yamaha factory team. He could imagine joining the Petronas Yamaha satellite team next year.

He could imagine swapping the teams with Fabio Quartararo. “I would like to stay where I am, but we are three pilots for two places. So you have to think about this third place,” said Rossi in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.

It is currently still unclear where Quartararo will drive in 2021, but it should be certain that Yamaha does not want to let the shooting star go. It is quite possible that Yamaha would have to offer him a place on the factory team alongside Maverick Vinales. This would mean there is no more room for Rossi.

Even though Rossi is a legend, and even though the fact that he is a Yamaha factory rider sells tons of Yamahas, it is not yet clear when he will end his career. But Yamaha also has to think about the future, a time after Rossi, and simply cannot afford to let Quartararo go.

Rossi would not be particularly bothered by a change to the Petronas team, as he currently sees no major difference between the teams.

“Petronas doesn’t seem like a bad team to me, but maybe Vinales will go. Or Quartararo will switch to a different motorcycle. Who knows?” Said Rossi. All contracts of the four Yamaha pilots expire at the end of 2020, so everything is still open.

Rossi does not rule out a change at the moment, even if he still needs time to think it through. He doesn’t want to make a decision until the middle of the season. Most of the time, however, the new contracts are concluded at the beginning of the season.

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