        Razlan Razali and Valentino Rossi had the chance to work together during the 2021 season, the Doctor&rsquo;s last season in MotoGP, when the Malaysian was head of the Yamaha Petronas SRT team now sponsored by WithU. Razali and Rossi&rsquo;s first meeting  A partnership that started positively but ended badly, so much so that the Italian was convinced to hang up his helmet once and for all. But the Malaysian and the Italian didn&rsquo;t in fact meet for the first time in 2021, but rather way back in 2005. Razali himself admits this in the MotoGP Unlimited docuseries currently available on the Prime Video platform. The manager recalls his first (less than idyllic) meeting with Valentino, during that year&rsquo;s winter tests. The Valentino &lsquo;curse&rsquo;  The relationship between Razali and Rossi has never been great, with Razali admitting on more than one occasion that he regretted hiring #46 in 2021. During the Amazon series, the team manager talks more about this discord: &ldquo;I was a huge Valentino fan and very excited when Rossi came to the winter tests at Sepang for the first time in 2005&rdquo;, remembers Razali. &ldquo;I asked if he&rsquo;d sign my book and he walked by without saying a word, he didn&rsquo;t think twice. In that moment, I thought &lsquo;you come to my country and do that to me? You&rsquo;ll never win another championship&rdquo;. Something of a 'curse', which didn&rsquo;t stop Valentino from winning two more titles in 2008-2009 before giving way to a 12-year drought. &ldquo;I lost interest in him after that, until there was a chance to have him as a rider. That&rsquo;s life, that&rsquo;s karma. I never told him, I&rsquo;m admitting it here for the first time&rdquo;, concludes an honest Razali. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Puig: &ldquo;The best generation was that of Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa&rdquo;       

In the MotoGP Unlimited docuseries, the Malaysian manager recounts a curious anecdote involving the nine-time champion

MotoGP, Rossi and the Razali “curse”: “You won’t win again”

        Franco Morbidelli hasn&rsquo;t had a lucky 2021 season so far, currently resting up after knee surgery, but despite this his future appears very bright. The strong results he scored in 2020 haven&rsquo;t gone unnoticed, and it appears (quite predictably) that #21 will replace Maverick Vinales on the factory team&rsquo;s Yamaha M1.&nbsp; Positive confirmation  A rumour that had been circulating in the paddock for weeks, but that is now confirmed by Razlan Razali, owner of the Petronas team that currently fields Morbidelli. &ldquo;Although it&rsquo;s not yet official &ndash; explains Razali - Franco should replace Maverick Vinales in 2022. It&rsquo;s a natural pathway as well as Franco&rsquo;s dream, so it wouldn&rsquo;t be right to deny him this opportunity. As a team, we&rsquo;ve given him our OK, any developments now depend on Yamaha and VR46, which manages him&rdquo;. Room for the youngsters  With Morbidelli expected to move to the factory team and Valentino Rossi looking likely to retire, Razali is forced to look around and seek new riders that meet specific criteria. Paddock radio has thrown out all kinds of names, from Andrea Dovizioso to Jonathan Rea, but the Malaysian team boss is of a different opinion. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to disrespect Valentino Rossi, but we don&rsquo;t want to find ourselves in a similar situation next year. Valentino has improved compared to last year, but he&rsquo;s currently struggling to reach the points zone. Dovizioso would be coming off a year&rsquo;s break, which would clash with the current level. So we&rsquo;d prefer to consider youngsters that we can help develop, like with Quartararo, to help them gain experience in the category&rdquo;. One rider that comes to mind is Raul Fernandez, a key player on the Moto2 market, but firstly there would be the KTM obstacle to overcome and, secondly, would the Spaniard even want to move up after what would be only one year in the intermediate class, albeit at a very high level? Another name that could fit Razali&rsquo;s bill is that of Marco Bezzecchi, although he is linked to the newly created VR46 team, and therefore dependent on its decision. So the future Petronas riders remain a mystery, soon to be solved no doubt. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Albesiano: &ldquo;Dovizioso has really helped Aprilia&rdquo;       

The Petronas team boss reveals: "It&rsquo;s Franco&rsquo;s dream as well as a natural pathway, we&rsquo;ve given him the OK. Andrea hasn&rsquo;t ridden for a year, we wouldn&rsquo;t want to relive the current situation with Rossi"

MotoGP, Razali: “Morbidelli will replace Vinales. Dovizioso? We want youngsters”

The Petronas team finished the 2020 season in the best possible way, championship runner-up Franco Morbidelli obviously in great shape aboard the Yamaha M1. But 2021 has failed to get off to a similar start, the situation clear to everyone. The Italo-Brazilian has struggled, his team-mate Valentino Rossi also failing to shine.  In a press release issued by the squad itself, team principal Razlan Razali analyses the first nine races: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had our highs and lows. It&rsquo;s been hard in MotoGP, particularly after the good results of the first two years, and the fact that Franco Morbidelli finished as runner-up in 2020. The 2021 season hasn&rsquo;t started as we expected&rdquo;.  &nbsp;A closer look at Morbidelli and Rossi  The 26-year old hasn&rsquo;t been able to do well in every race: &ldquo;Franco had problems with the bike during the first race, but then bounced back and scored a first podium at Jerez. Unfortunately he then had the knee problem, which required surgery. This hinders our aims for the rest of the season, but we hope he comes back strong&rdquo;. As for the Doctor, he comments: &ldquo;We saw good pace in qualifying at the start of the season and some improvement in recent races, but we know it&rsquo;s been difficult. We&rsquo;ll continue to support him as much as possible during the second half of the season&rdquo;.  &nbsp;The goals  Looking at 2021 as a whole, as well as the ten races that remain, the Malaysian confirms: &ldquo;We will try to finish top five in every class. In MotoGP we aim to be inside the top three in the independent team category, but we know it will be difficult to make up ground in the second half of the season. In Moto2 and Moto3 we need our riders to be consistent. We have the potential to significantly improve our results&rdquo;.  &nbsp;Morbidelli&rsquo;s physical condition  On 25 June, Morbidelli was in surgery and Razali provides an update as to his condition: &ldquo;Franco is recovering well. We want to be sure he&rsquo;s 100% before he returns, so we don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll race before Misano. He loves that track and knows it well, so that could be a good opportunity for him to return&rdquo;.  &nbsp;Who are the 2022 riders?  As for the riders market opening up in light of Vinales&rsquo; departure, Razali states: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still awaiting the decision of Valentino Rossi and Yamaha with regard to 2022. In any case, the latest developments definitely open up many possibilities! We&rsquo;re talking with Yamaha and our current MotoGP riders, but we&rsquo;re in no hurry. We don&rsquo;t plan to make any announcements for at least another couple of races&rdquo;.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Ciabatti: &ldquo;We have two good opportunities in Austria&quot; 

The Petronas team principal analyses the season so far, sets out the goals and speaks about Morbidelli

MotoGP 2022, Razali: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll announce our line-up after the races in Austria&rdquo;

        In just two years, team Petronas has become a key MotoGP squad, and its latest goal is to grow even further. Having nurtured the idea of winning the title with Fabio Quartararo, Team Principal Razlan Razali was was then able to enjoy the exponential growth of Franco Morbidelli, who will compete for the team once again in 2021, alongside Valentino Rossi. It&rsquo;s impossible not to begin with the latest arrival, not exactly the average rider. &ldquo;Valentino was always an excellent candidate for our team right from day one - starts Razali - but the pandemic then strengthened his position, because welcoming a rookie would have been more complicated. Rossi can definitely obtain great results, as well as bring stability to the team. The fact that Valentino and Morbidelli are friends can no doubt help the team, as the atmosphere will be positive and we won&rsquo;t need to put up a wall in the garage&rdquo;. Allowing a nine-time world champion to continue to grow is not easy, but Razali remains optimistic. &ldquo;Speaking with both my team and the factory team, I understand that the approaches are different. On the Petronas team we have experienced guys like Ramon Forcada, but also youngsters who are cutting their teeth in MotoGP, and this makes for a great combination. We are able to listen to, and understand, the riders, and as a satellite team we can make ourselves heard if something&rsquo;s not working. I hope all this can help Valentino&rdquo;. Razali: &ldquo;Morbidelli is a hungry artist when he&rsquo;s on track"  While Rossi is new to the squad, Morbidelli is already an integral part of the structure and the Team Principal is quick to compliment him. &ldquo;He expresses himself and behaves like an artist. He has a wonderful outlook on life, he respects everyone and he always remains calm. He&rsquo;s a great guy, and then on track he becomes aggressive and hungry like everyone else&rdquo;. The number 21 rider will once again compete with the &ldquo;A-spec&rdquo; M1, though Razali doesn&rsquo;t think this will stop him from battling against his rivals. &ldquo;Yamaha has a high opinion of Franco as a rider right now, but his contractual situation didn&rsquo;t allow them to give him an identical bike to the other Yamaha riders. His M1 will still receive updates during the year, like last year, to allow him to improve. I think Morbidelli has achieved a good level of understanding with his current M1, and he can definitely be fast&rdquo;. Morbidelli&rsquo;s contract also differs in that it has been made with team Petronas, and not directly with Yamaha. A little unusual for a young talent like Franco, considering the current trend among manufacturers (Ducati for starters) to create a direct link with their most promising riders. &ldquo;Last year, many were focusing on Quartararo, but Morbidelli grew to the extent that he became a title contender. The championship began at a time when we&rsquo;re usually starting to work on contract renewals. Franco had technical problems at Jerez, but then started to shine from Brno. We didn&rsquo;t want to lose him to another team, so we decided to renew with him directly until 2022&rdquo;. Razali doesn&rsquo;t deny that Morbidelli can fight right from the outset this season. &ldquo;Franco has already battled for the title in Moto2, winning despite it all, so I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll have any trouble dealing with the pressure, unlike Fabio for example. Fabio&rsquo;s performance definitely spurred him on, and I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s in line to be one of the 2021 title contenders&rdquo;.  &ldquo;We want to continue with Yamaha, and not call ourselves a satellite team anymore&rdquo;  Beyond what he might achieve with Rossi and Morbidelli, Razali must start to consider his team&rsquo;s future, considering that the agreement between Yamaha and team Petronas is soon up for renewal. &ldquo;We started to discuss the renewal in December, when I received an initial five-year proposal from Yamaha. We&rsquo;re talking and I hope to have a definitive agreement by May or June. We got on well with Yamaha right from the start, so I hope we can continue together. A team run by Valentino? I prefer not to comment&rdquo;. Razali&rsquo;s structure is an attractive proposal for many, Suzuki for example, which has already made contact, but the Team Principal confirms his desire to move forward with the Iwata manufacturer. &ldquo;When a manufacturer wants to talk, it&rsquo;s only right to listen, and that&rsquo;s what we did with Suzuki, seeing as we are open to all possibilities. Having said that, our decision depends largely on what Petronas wants, so we will follow their indications. The common intention is to continue with Yamaha, due both to the results and their desire to be involved in our campaign to develop young riders, from the Asian championship to the MotoGP. I think we&rsquo;ll be able to stop calling ourselves an independent or satellite team in future (he laughs)&rdquo;. Lastly, Razali touches on his Moto2 and Moto3 teams, both of which look promising this season  &ldquo;In Moto2 we have Vierge, an expert rider, who I think can bring the team its first podium, and a young, developing talent like Dixon, who showed real signs of growth last year. I think both can fight for the podium. In Moto3 it will be interesting to follow McPhee&rsquo;s last season in the category. He can definitely be a title contender, and will probably be spurred on by Darryn Binder, another very fast rider who is ready to move up&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Petronas Yamaha unveils its 2021 M1 bikes       

"Valentino will bring stability. Franco can fight for the ttitle, he won&rsquo;t feel the pressure like Quartararo. Our renewal with Yamaha? The desire is there, we don&rsquo;t want to be a satellite team any longer"

MotoGP, Razali: “We’ll give Rossi something new. Morbidelli? An artist”

The Petronas Yamaha team presentation will take place within this month and as the M1 is unveiled, we will also see Valentino Rossi in official Petronas colours alongside reconfirmed rider Franco Morbidelli. An all-Italian rider line-up, and one that sporting director Razlan Razali is keen to work with.  &ldquo;We need to find a compromise&rdquo;   During an interview with Fox Sport Asia, Razali outlined some goals for 2021: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try to be more consistent&rdquo;, he said. &ldquo;Franco already managed this in 2020 and was more consistent than Fabio, Maverick and Valentino. This year, we need to find a compromise so that we don&rsquo;t have bad races like we did in 2020. Consistency is the priority this year, I think that both Yamaha and our team can do it&rdquo;.  To start on the right foot, they first need to identify the errors made last season: &ldquo;I think our problem, or the Yamaha problem in general, is that we have no middle ground. Either we give it our all or do really badly. This was the main issue last year. The Yamaha is clearly a great bike, it won seven races last year, more than any other manufacturer, and we won six of those. It&rsquo;s an excellent bike and I think we&rsquo;ll be able to solve the problems&rdquo;.  Valentino, a mentor   The sporting director went on to talk about Valentino&rsquo;s arrival on the team: &ldquo;Valentino is an icon, a mentor for many youngsters. This will definitely benefit our team because we also have riders racing in Moto3 and Moto2 who can get up close and see how he works. I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;ll be motivated if they receive advice from him. We really want to see how he works and learn from him. I have to thank him for putting his trust in our team, and we&rsquo;ll be doing our best to repay this&rdquo;.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Fabio Quartararo: &ldquo;I know Yamaha will listen to me&rdquo; 

The Petronas sporting director talks about how Rossi can help, but also about the team&#39;s lack of consistency in 2020, something it aims to remedy in 2021

MotoGP, Razali: &ldquo;Valentino is a mentor, I&rsquo;m curious to work with him&rdquo;

        Cancellation of the Sepang test means Valentino Rossi&rsquo;s first appearance in Team Petronas SRT colours has been postponed, and we don&rsquo;t yet have a date for the official presentation of the team's new 2021 line-up, the Doctor joining Franco Morbidelli in the garage. But the team continues to work on other fronts, and has just announced a partnership with new sponsor&nbsp;Green Power Generators. New (scale-model) bikes   The agreement has been announced in a video that team Petronas has recently published on its social channels. In the first seconds of the recording, we see Razlan Razali but also scale models of the Rossi and Morbidelli bikes lined up on his desk. A first glimpse of Valentino&rsquo;s number 46 paired with the Petronas colours, albeit in miniature. We'll have to wait until 28 March to see the definitive livery, when the season gets underway in Qatar. Translated by Heather Watson ASBK: Troy Bayliss recruits Rossi's mechanic         

In a video presentation to announce a new sponsor, the Petronas team owner shows off scale models of the Rossi and Morbidelli bikes

MotoGP: Razali shows Rossi’s new (mini) Yamaha M1

&quot;A pleasant Christmas gift from VR46. Thanks Vale&quot;, the words of Razlan Razali, the Yamaha Petronas team boss, as he thanks Valentino Rossi for his Christmas gift in a Facebook post.  The gift box contains a VR46 branded t-shirt and extra virgin olive oil produced in the homeland of the nine-time world champion.    Pleasant Christmas gift from VR46...grazie Vale! Pubblicato da Razali Razlan su&nbsp;Luned&igrave; 14 dicembre 2020   Valentino&rsquo;s gift to his new team principal   &quot;The Motor Ranch was born in 2010, in Tavullia, our homeland. Three tracks surrounded by vines and olive trees that have grown to the sound of engine vibrations. As of this year, our young olive trees have started giving us our Motor Ranch oil, which we want to share with all those people who collaborate with us and have helped us to develop our projects without ever stopping, even during this difficult year&rdquo;, reads the gift.  A gesture that comes just a few days before the start of 2021, a year that will see Rossi working with the satellite Iwata team alongside Franco Morbidelli. The aim will be to improve on the results of 2020, a season in which the Doctor scored just 66 points in the riders&rsquo; standings.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Briatore: &ldquo;I advise Rossi to stop. We want to remember him as champion&rdquo; 

Ahead of Christmas, the Italian rider has gifted the Petronas manager one of his products

7 risultati per 'EN Razlan razali'

MotoGP, Rossi and the Razali “curse”: “You won’t win again”

MotoGP, Razali: “Morbidelli will replace Vinales. Dovizioso? We want youngsters”

MotoGP 2022, Razali: “We’ll announce our line-up after the races in Austria”

MotoGP, Razali: “We’ll give Rossi something new. Morbidelli? An artist”

MotoGP, Razali: “Valentino is a mentor, I’m curious to work with him”

MotoGP: Razali shows Rossi’s new (mini) Yamaha M1

MotoGP: Valentino Rossi’s gift to Razlan Razali