Rossi: Vinales, Yamaha split won't change 2022 decision

Maverick Vinales' split from the factory Yamaha MotoGP team for 2022 'doesn’t change my decision, because my decision is correlated to the results', says Valentino Rossi.

Peter McLaren

28 Jun 2021

Valentino Rossi, Dutch MotoGP race, 27 June 2021
© Gold and Goose

Valentino Rossi's final race before the MotoGP summer break, and a decision on his racing future, ended in more disappointment.

The Petronas Yamaha rider looked in with a fighting chance of at least beating his season-best of tenth place, qualifying twelfth for the Dutch TT and feeling optimistic of a 'decent' race.

But a nightmare start left the Italian 22nd and last into Turn 1, with any hopes of a recovery then ending when he crashed at high-speed from 17th on lap 8 of 26.

"It’s a great shame because our pace was not too bad," Rossi said after his third DNF of the season. "I have quite good potential, so we expected a decent race. But unfortunately, I did a bad start because we changed something for the start.

"I had to change my way to start and so I don’t feel very comfortable. Like in Sachsenring, I did a bad start. After, I was far behind but I tried to make some overtaking.

"Unfortunately, when you stay behind the other bikes, the front tyre has some problems [overheats, causing the pressure to rise]. You feel a little bit less grip. I was able to overtake Bastianini and I tried to push, but unfortunately I lost the front in turn seven.

"We checked the data. We don’t understand very well, but I’m lucky because it was just a slide but it was high-speed and I’m okay. So, this is important."

But a fifth non-score of the season means Rossi goes into the summer break just 19th in the world championship.

"I always said that I know that this year is difficult, is a great challenge," reflected Rossi, who moved from the Factory Yamaha team to Petronas in 2021.

"But my decision for next year depends very much from the results. So, the results of the first half of the season are not what we expect. We hope to be stronger, to fight for the better positions, so the result doesn’t help us.

"I said from the beginning of the season that I would decide in the next week about next year, and it will be like this. I will let you know when I decide."

The 42-year-old added that his decision would not be influenced by the shock news that former team-mate Maverick Vinales is to leave the official team at the end of this season, meaning Yamaha now already needs to find one new rider for 2022.

"Maybe something will change that we don’t expect," Rossi said of Sunday's Vinales-Yamaha rumours, which were officially confirmed on Monday.

"But for me, it doesn’t change my decision because my decision is correlated to the results. So, what happens with the other team or with the other Yamahas for me is not a big deal."

While the results needed to satisfy Rossi surely haven’t been met, Aramco – title sponsor of his new VR46 MotoGP project – has made clear they would like the nine-time world champion to join Luca Marini on a Ducati in 2022.

However, Rossi has said that would be 'very difficult' at present. If so, there is an outside chance that Vinales might be a potential VR46 candidate, should Aramco insist on a big name rider, although the Spaniard is expected to join Aprilia.