A keen sense of events is passed down at Yamaha.
SLICK EXCERPT #7
A keen sense of events is passed down at Yamaha. The next few lines recall how the great effort to become the first 500 world champion with two-stroke technology (and first Japanese company) was realized in the year the company turned 20 years old.
He showed just as much timing (which was calculated, again) when he struck the first world title in MotoGP: the board was persuaded to agree to invest in Valentino Rossi an amount of money that had never before been spent in Iwata, because the president at the time wanted to celebrate Yamaha Motor’s 50th anniversary (due in 2005) by winning the premier class.
Rossi accomplished the mission, adding even something more: the anniversary was celebrated by dominating, because the title came not only in 2005 (and the dominance was overwhelming) but also in 2004. To stay in that period, it should be noted that in the moments when the mission failed the reaction was hard: for example, Yamaha was unprepared for its MotoGP debut in 2002, and its debut was so disastrous that it generated a sense of shame in Iwata.
Well, a new era was immediately kicked off with the arrival of Masao Furusawa, and in fact much of the top racing leadership was purged.
It is for this set of reasons that Iwata does not think they have disrespected Valentino by deciding that at age 42 (in 2021) he cannot be considered the future of racing, entrusted instead to a 25-year-old (Viñales) and a 21-year-old (Quartararo).
On the contrary, by offering him an official contract in the satellite team they thought they were acknowledging his undiminished esteem. Beyond opinions-pilot and company interpret the same event according to their respective points of view, interests, and even sensibilities-the problem is also technical: having an official pilot contract does not guarantee Valentino the exact position he has always had, because there is no really identical to those who are part of the internal team.
The in-house team is the “company’s” team, the one where the Japanese engineers and managers who decide everything in Iwata work and live, and move around the pit accordingly. And it is the Yamaha Factory Team box.
The riders on the in-house team learn about developments and technical plans first, and always receive them first; therefore (and here is what Viñales has been fighting for) they are the first to make choices about the development of the bike.
Then, it is true that a lot of material is transferred to the official driver in the satellite team, but the two drivers in the in-house team remain in a privileged position. For example, Team Honda Repsol remains number one, although Team LCR is very close to HRC; same for Ducati, and its relationship with Team Pramac.
The problem, for Valentino, is that maybe at the age of 42 certain magic can’t work on you anymore, so losing the total, absolute, unconditional support of the racing department is a problem on top of other problems.
And Valentino, a problem with the M1 and its designers, already had it in 2019; probably his worst season ever. It must be remembered that in 2010 the balance within Team Yamaha broke for much less.
For Valentino to leave, it was enough to have confirmation that Jorge Lorenzo would remain his teammate (top management did not even think about pushing him away, as Valentino had requested instead). How could he, Valentino Rossi, have envisioned a final career phase worthy of his status? There are not so many possibilities.
In theory we are facing a blank page, all to be written. One sticking point may be the fact that Valentino Rossi wants to race again: how, with whom, and with what feeling, is all to be clarified. Come what may, this season is burned.
The calendar is crumbled, twisted to the point of drawing a situation that is anything but exciting even from the point of view of spectacle and excitement: it is becoming a World Championship that will probably be European (as in the post-war period!), with only a few circuits (the four Spanish ones, plus Misano, Brno and Red Bull Ring, perhaps Le Mans) expected to host more than one race consecutively, which will be held in the silence of the empty grandstands, thus without the warmth of the public; access to the paddock will be by closed numbers, and 1300 people (admitted after a tough selection made by the teams themselves) is not a lot, if one thinks of three classes plus Dorna staff.
But the paddock must be attended only by professionals deemed “essential to make the event work,” so there will be no non-core contributors, let alone friends, fan clubs, and guests.
Not even the media: Dorna will take care of everything. The teams will always move in blocks, even thinking of separate entrances for the teams of the three categories (e.g., first Moto3 will enter, after half an hour Moto2, finally MotoGP), which will only make the “airport-hotel-circuit-hotel-airport” route (meaning that one will not be able to disperse to the locations hosting the race), and will remain separate from each other (it will be inadvisable to stay too close).
The few circuits that fall under the new calendar will try to multiply the event: that is, to offer two GPs within a single week. Development of engines, chassis, and aerodynamics has been frozen.
In fact, the bikes that were manufactured this year will also run the 2021 season. If that were not enough, testing during the season was cancelled, as were wild cards (used by the houses to try out new parts).
It is an emergency championship, which Dorna wants to close as soon as possible. In other words, no later than mid-November. In fact, you will run because you have to save what you can; standing still would be worse.
There are the economic interests of the Houses, and those of the teams linked to sponsors. There are the interests of Dorna, linked to TV rights. The promoter is already at work for 2021, which will hopefully be the championship of return to normalcy.
Since this is a very expensive sport, involving wandering around the entire Planet, it is possible that in 2021 it will not be back everything as it was before. So it has to be seen whether the turnover will be the same, whether there will still be so many circuits or promoters willing to make double-digit investments (in millions of euros) to be part of MotoGP.
It will be necessary to see how the negotiations for television rights will develop. In short, we have never seen such a period. Even in 1949, when the World Cup was born, there was more certainty.