MOTOGP » The 2008 was not here...

I agree with Calvin - Yamaha might be making a strategic mistake by putting all of its eggs in one basket. But it's a hell of a good basket.

Rossi brings so much attention and charisma to the show and he wins a lot of races, so you really can't blame them too much.

Hopefully the other Yamaha riders will be competitive. They appear to be in a better position this season with stronger riders all around and Michelins instead of Dunlops, so it's not like they're sitting on their hands.

Built-in excuse here - no development of the Yam on Bridgestones, Rossi absent from the tests due to injury.
You can just see this being set up as next years excuse for non-performance.

not a smart move by rossi to move to bridgestones?
i think to rossi it is much more important that he figures out himself - how did the tyres affect the bike/his racing season, and to do things differently to produce different results - than to continue with something ( michelins ) that may not enough resources including time - to improve to the level he wants. michelins would be expected to improve but will they improve enough ?
so it might turn out to be a very intelligent move;

Welcome back Gina, it's been a few days.

Onlytime will tell if it was a wise move. Any debate here is purely speculative.

Rossi is rider enough to know when a tyre is ****, he made the decision to switch in what may be his last year for Yamaha.
Michelin may argue they will get their act together, he doesn't have the time. It looks like a gamble but it is his choice.
You can say it is better for Yamaha when there are more bikes at the front but that is not realistic,
Rossi is the only Yamaha riderwith the capacity to challenge for the championship (at the moment).
So let them gamble, I'm curious how it turns out.
If he succeeds it's sure to baffle a lot of people

To be honest, I think Rossi has totally lost the plot on this one.
Bikes have to be developed to match the tyres, but there is absolutely no base data for a Yamaha on Bridgestones. None of his 'team-mates' will be able to offer any development help to him, and Bridgestone won't be making special one-off tyres for him - he will be at the end of the feeding chain.
Rossi seems to be all over the place at the moment, one minute committed, then thinking of retirement, considering Ducati, then saying he will not ride anything other than Yamaha.
I can see Michelin really coming back strong in 2008, and with the other three Yamaha guys working together, Rossi could be in for a really miserable time.

i dont belive for one second that Rossi dont know what he is doing the man is a seven time world champion.He has got the experience and like to gamble and have some of the best people around him they will come back hard next year...HE is a fighter (the greatest of them all.)

"In my opinion things changed at the end of the season, as far as we are concerned, but Valentino felt that the problem was just the tyre, not something else.Maybe this is a good analysis, or maybe it isn't.
"For me this decision of his is difficult to understand, but that's what he's decided.It could be a good or a bad choice, we'll see in a while.For sure there are things, also psychological ones, that influence greatly a rider's performance.
This is Michelin's head Weber's quote from Autosport.
Most interesting is his comment about psychological influences. In his day Rossi would have won on that bike and tyre package I have no doubt because he was that good. It is a mental thing.

Weber is sour, and understandably, he's lost the biggest fish in the pond
and the last thing he will do is blame his products.
Declaring him insane is an interesting angle but total ****.
Rossi is just having a dash at it, he knows he has to stick it out for another season
on what is presumably not the fastest vehicle in the field
and having some decent tyres under it might be his only hope.
Don't worry to much about him having to test tyres on his own,
he's perfectly capable of doing that
In fact Bridgestone might actually benefit from signing him.

Weber sounds like cry baby.
All Rossi wanted was a tire that can last a race micheline *****d up big time this year. micheline will work hard but bridgestone wont sleep this winter they will work hard too so Vale will be strong next year.