Italian GPMoto ace Valentino Rossi says that retirement is not in his mind for the years to come and that he is more focused on coming back on the winning track next season. The Italian is set to continue his career until, at least, 2009.

The seven-time world champion states that he never considered quitting MotoGP and that Formula 1 would have been the only thing that could have change his mind.

The 28-year-old Italian who still has a year on his Yamaha contract says that the 2007 season was hard for him, having completed the season only in third place, following champion Casey Stoner and Honda's driver Dani Pedrosa. Rossi only managed to have four victories while Stoner got ten.

"Several reasons can explain why I had such a difficult year but in the end Casey (Stoner) was too fast for me and he fully deserves his title, said Rossi to Motosprint. I made too many mistakes and he only managed to do a few."