Has Yamaha chosen Rossi over young(er) fast man Jorge Lorenzo? Maybe so, as Yamaha race bosses are said to be negotiating an “End of Career” contract with the Italian Magician before the 2010 season starts.


As you may remember, Rossi told the world after the last MotoGP of 2009 that he would serve out his current contract with Yamaha to the end of 2010, but that they would then have to choose between him and Lorenzo, as he felt that there was only room for one Number 1 Rider on the team. This is a great psychological ploy in his favour, as it put everyone at Yamaha under incredible pressure to take a decision early, over and above the pressure coming from a re-motivated Honda and from Ducati on the track, and from Ducati who are already made big-Euro offers to both Rossi and Lorenzo for 2011.

By announcing that they are negotiating with Rossi, Yamaha are pushing some of the pressure back onto Vale, who is now faced with having to take a position before the 2010 season starts. As far as Lorenzo (A Spaniard remember) is concerned, he now knows that Rossi is favoured by Yamaha and in de-facto control of Lorenzo’s 2011 career path, as well as in control of the (Italian) Yamaha team members, some of which just recently defected to Honda. If Rossi hesitates too much, Yamaha could make a similar offer to Lorenzo early in the season, and give him Number 1 status instead of the equal treatment they are now planning on.

You can imagine how tense relations will be in the Yamaha camp in the early races. It will likely start off with Rossi wanting to keep the best technical team members for himself, and leaving Lorenzo’s crew with lesser people. Also remember that the two riders operate separately, with little real sharing of data, and an actual wall between them in the garage.

The two riders each have strengths: Rossi remains the smartest “racer” on the MotoGP grid, is the best test rider to set up a bike for a race, and is still as quick as anybody out there. And, he will stop at nothing to win, including barging people out of the way, and is the master at head games. But he is getting on in age and really likes cars! On the other side of the Yamaha garage, Lorenzo is pure speed, but less effective at bike set-up and still a bit too error-prone, which means Championship-killing spills and injuries.

So, Rossi is working on Lorenzo’s head, negotiating better offers from Yamaha and Ducati, and trying to win his tenth World Championship. A full plate I would say!

This is going to be good!




Photo Credit : Yamaha