ROSSI ‘WHY I STILL RACE...’
Vale on the pressure to quit & VR46 team controversy
‘I would love to race Hailwood, Agostini and Schwantz’
Valentino Rossi, now aged 42, is in a race that he knows he cannot win as he rolls into the 26th season of a celebrated grand prix career. The rival: Father Time. The inevitably of that defeat is eased with the timing of Rossi’s transition to MotoGP team owner with VR46 from 2022.
“It is a beautiful story, the circle closes a little bit,” Rossi said. Backing the project will be Tanal Entertainment Sport & Media, the holding company of Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Saud, with Saudi oil giant Aramco as main sponsor from 2022 to 2026.
The mega deal - projected at £10★ million per year - shook the paddock during the Spanish GP at Jerez.
It was pulled together by Alberto Tebaldi, Rossi’s loyal confidant and trusted CEO of VR46.
“We have been working on it for two years, since Marco Bernardini [an Italian architect] and consultant to the Prince put us in contact,” said Tebaldi.
“We have never spoken directly with Aramco, but directly with Tanal and the Prince. And we also have bank guarantees to safeguard the operation.”
After the fourth race in Jerez where a “low morale” Rossi finished 17th, the Italian great languishes 21st in the standings with just four points all from an uninspiring 12th in Qatar 1. But he is ecstatic for VR46 MotoGP: “I am proud of the work that has been done to make this happen.
“It is a little bit that the circle closes: we started 10 years ago with Franco Morbidelli and my brother Luca, then we created the Moto3 team, then Moto2 and now we will land in MotoGP. It is a beautiful story. “Is there a possibility that I will race for my team? It will be very difficult but since I am the boss, if I need a bike I will have no problem!”
While Ducati are the predicted bike supplier, Yamaha and also Aprilia, are considered active options.
As Rossi prepares for the fourth round of the MotoGP championship at Le Mans this weekend he spoke about his illustrious career and the successes and regrets of the world’s most famous bike racer.
You are now into your 26th season since the first in 1996. Which are the three most special for you?
2001 because it was the last World Championship of the 500s and it was a long battle to the death with Biaggi: wonderful. Then 2004, which began with my debut victory with Yamaha in Welkom. That was the most beautiful. Then 2008, because for most people my career was already finished. I was too old and I could not win anymore. Instead I switched to Bridgestone tyres and managed to beat Stoner.
Which three riders from the past would you have liked to race against? Mike Hailwood, Kevin Schwantz and Giacomo Agostini.
Your generation has never known the charm and danger of the Isle of Man TT. You went there to look in 2009 with Agostini. Are you sorry that you never raced there?
I did a lap and in that lap I understood why, despite being so dangerous, the TT is so beautiful, so mythical. It’s really scary, and it’s gorgeous. But I wouldn’t have liked to race there, it’s really too dangerous. I am very happy that my generation has never raced there in the World Championship.
After so many years is your career at the point that you don’t care too much about being a legend. That the
‘Will I race for my team? It would be very difficult’
‘In my opinion I was the first modern MotoGP rider’
only important thing is to race, and everything that comes with it is a consequence, good or bad?
My reasoning is very simple and it is strange that some people do not understand, but also I know that perhaps my way of thinking is different. I like how I feel, the feeling I have after having done a good race, the adrenaline of winning or going on the podium. I like that feeling.
But I know very well that in the end time will have won, because unfortunately for everyone it is like this, but I try with all my strength to make it as difficult as possible for him [time], that’s it. This is the only reason why I still race.
You loved The Last Dance, the Michael Jordan documentary, during which he says he’d retire two years earlier than his talent and physique would dictate, because he doesn’t want to experience the phase of decline. But at the end he makes it clear that he was half regretting that and would like to go on again. Is this on your mind? These are always nice things to say, however, in my opinion, what you lose by stopping doing what you like best is more than what you gain by quitting when you are at the peak of your career.
Anyway, you never know if it’s really over, because in 2013 when I returned to Yamaha I was already finished for everyone, but if they hadn’t stolen the championship in 2015 I would have won another one. [In 2015 Rossi started the Valencia GP from the rear of the grid as penalty for his clash with Marquez in Sepang. Lorenzo took the title.] It would have been the tenth and extended my sporting life as a winner by as much as six years.
So I don’t think like Jordan, even if he is a legend for me. I want to race as long as I can. Obviously, it’s not like I want to be in 12th place. But if I had wanted to quit at the peak I should have already done so.
Will we ever see a documentary about Valentino Rossi?
I would love to and probably we will, because my story is beautiful, there are so many things to tell. We have many images, even private backstage images, that have never been seen, so when I stop I would like to do a series like The Last Dance. It would be really cool.
Another legend, Lewis Hamilton, said that you have more things in common than he imagined?
It was nice to be with Lewis in Valencia [they swapped cars and bikes]. I remember that in the morning at 9.15am there was a knock on the door of our office, and there was Hamilton still in the F1 suit saying: “Oh, come on you’re always the usual late Italian.” We both have a great passion for sport and are curious about everything.
A few years ago you said you were afraid of quitting. But it seems that you’ve overcome that. Is there something that scares you now? It’s true, in recent years I have been much less afraid of quitting. I used to think it was all going to get very boring. I really like the life of an athlete, training every day to get fit and having a goal. Maybe when I stop racing, maybe that’s what scares me a bit, I’ll have to find other equally important goal.
Does being the oldest in the series make you a bit lonely?
No. I don’t feel alone. I have many friends in the paddock, starting with our Academy riders, we spend a lot of fun time together. That keeps me young.
Has your sense of speed changed? No, I would say not. At speed you get used to it, continuing to race and staying in motion doesn’t change.
Petronas SRT seems carefree, what do you like most about your new team?
I don’t want to spit on the plate where I ate, I was also fine in the official Yamaha team. But in Petronas it’s very good, there is a great atmosphere in the team, many young guys, a very free-range team. It’s very English, basically they are very different from Italians and Spaniards, it’s cool to be there.
Do you always feel that you are important to Yamaha?
Yes, enough. I took a step back, but I feel their support.
Stopping without being able to do so in front of the stands packed with fans would be the saddest way to end an extraordinary adventure… Sure on the day of the last grand prix it would be much better to have the public, but it doesn’t change much for me. My results change, it’s all there is.
What is the legacy you will leave to racing?
In my opinion I was the first modern MotoGP rider, because I was the first to do many things that became a lesson for many riders today. I started very young, but at 20 I was already in 500s and my path was then followed by everyone. Now they all want to do that. There are a few things that I have done that everyone has looked at while learning.
Qatar was your brother Luca’s first time as an opponent. What did you say to each other in the end?
We cried. No, that’s not true, but we were both desperate because we went slowly. We would like to fight together, but for important positions.
Who does your mother Stefania worry about the most?
More or less for both, in a different way. Luca must assert himself, try to go fast for his future in MotoGP, but I have to look for good results for the final part of my career.
Your father Graziano continues to have great confidence in you, How is your relationship?
My relationship with Graziano changed about 15 years ago, we began to get along better. There was a period of adolescence when he was calm and I, on the other hand, wanted to do my own business and we fought. Then at the age of 25 the relationship changed, we got along better and continues now.
If Valentino Rossi was a great artist without a bike, what would he be?
I would say a sportsman anyway. Even without a bike I really like this life and I have no particular artistic skills like drawing or singing. Although I would have liked to have been a rock musician. Actually Graziano wanted that for me.
In Misano a couple of years ago you wore the Back to the Future helmet: if you could go back and change just one day, what would it be? Valencia 2006, because there I threw away a World Championship that I could have won. [In 2006 Rossi went into a last race decider but crashed out, leaving Nicky Hayden to take the title.] That would have been 10 titles anyway, even without the theft of 2015.