        During a long interview with American journalist Graham Bensinger, Valentino Rossi covered a range of topics, from his relationship with girlfriend Francesca Sofia Novello and imminent fatherhood, to some of the highlights of his long racing career. He also spoke further about his retirement from MotoGP,&nbsp;which came after a complex season with team Petronas. Valentino: &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to have any regrets&rdquo;  ''I always worried about how my career would finish. I didn&rsquo;t want to stop, but during the pandemic I spent two months away from the bike. That helped me realise that I could live without it&rdquo;, explains Valentino, before analysing the episodes that led him to call time on his world championship career. &ldquo;The first time I thought about retiring was in 2019, the season in which I started to have the first problems&rdquo;, admits the nine-time champion. &ldquo;After Austin, we returned to Europe and I&rsquo;d lost that speed. And then came 2020, a strange year. I thought I&rsquo;d stop there, but everyone pushed me to continue, and so I raced in 2021 too&rdquo;. A decision that prevented him from retiring while at the height of his career: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve raced ever since I was 4, but now my life is changing completely. I&rsquo;ve seen many champions bow out while still at the top of their game, not me, I wanted to continue because I was enjoying it and because I didn&rsquo;t want to have any regrets. In my last races, I finally realised what I was able to put together during my career, it was hard to let go. Ten days after Valencia I was feeling down, but I made the right decision&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Ducati presentation rescheduled: the new date       

The Doctor talks about his departure from the reigning class: "I didn&rsquo;t want to stop, but during the pandemic I realised I could live without MotoGP"

MotoGP, Rossi admits: “I already considered retiring in 2019”

        On the eve of the third GP of the season, Franco Morbidelli is ready to race at the sharp end aboard his Petronas Yamaha M1. The Italo-Brazilian had trouble during the opening rounds in Qatar, but he hasn&rsquo;t lost his motivation ahead of the upcoming race at the rollercoaster Portim&atilde;o track, where he reached the podium in 2020. &ldquo;We start with a clean sheet in Portim&atilde;o&rdquo;, explains number 21. &ldquo;The two Qatar rounds were complicated and we weren&rsquo;t able to achieve the results we hoped for, so I&rsquo;m happy to head to a track like Portim&atilde;o, where we were very competitive at the end of last year&rdquo;. &ldquo;The basic bike set-up will be more or less the same as it was over the last weekends, but it should work better in Portugal. My motivation is still high, also after seeing the performance of the official Yamaha riders, who actually push me to work even harder to obtain better conditions and greater consideration from the manufacturer&rdquo;, continues 21. "Pleased about Yamaha&rsquo;s counter-measures"  As for the problems in Qatar, &ldquo;Morbido&rdquo; is quick to assure us: &ldquo;Yamaha has answered all my questions, both after the first races and once we got here. I&rsquo;m pleased with the counter-measures taken because that confirms that they are working hard for me too&rdquo;. &ldquo;Personally, I can only say that I&rsquo;ve worked hard, physically and mentally, over the last ten days and will aim to do my best with what I have available&rdquo;, concludes the 2020 runner-up. Translated by Heather Watson Portugal GP, manufacturer stats       

Despite a difficult start to the season in Qatar, the team Petronas rider knows he can be competitive in the Algarve: &ldquo;We were strong here last year&rdquo;

MotoGP Portugal, Morbidelli: “I’ve not lost my motivation”

        It&rsquo;s almost time for the Team Petronas SRT presentation. The Malaysian outfit, which will field Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi in this year's MotoGP championship, will present its team to the press on Monday 1 March. Live streaming  The current MotoGP runner-up and a part of the team since 2019, Morbidelli will take centre stage, joined by nine-time world champion Rossi, as they prepare to unveil the livery of the 2021 Yamaha YZR-M1. Moto2 riders Xavi Vierge and Jake Dixon will also be in attendance, as will Moto3 duo John McPhee and Darryn Binder. As we await the official presentation, the team headed up by Razlan Razali has released a brief video teaser in which we see some details of the helmets and suits worn by Valentino and Franco.             Visualizza questo post su Instagram  Un post condiviso da PETRONAS SRT (@sepangracingteam)      Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Quartararo: &ldquo;I was unable to manage the pressure&rdquo;       

Expectation builds ahead of the Rossi-Morbidelli presentation, the Malaysian team sharing a brief video in the run up to the March 1 event &nbsp;

MotoGP: a teaser ahead of the Yamaha Petronas presentation

Franco Morbidelli has concluded his emotional year as world championship runner-up by competing on four wheels, in the Monza Rally. Emotion is a concept that the Italo-Brazilian rider, the first of Rossi&rsquo;s Academy pupils, expresses in his own way. The 26-year old doesn&rsquo;t fit the MotoGP rider clich&eacute;. When not on the bike, his world moves at a slower pace, and is not petrol but diesel-fuelled. A result of his calmness and a composure that has a lot to do with his Brazilian roots, something he flaunts with pride on his helmet.  As Franco himself has said many times, Quartararo&#39;s explosion during 2019 &ndash; a year in which Morbidelli was meant to be the Team Petronas reference &ndash; came as a real blow, mentally speaking. To prevent the situation from repeating itself, the former Moto2 world champion worked hard last winter so as to be ready and no longer viewed as the &lsquo;second&rsquo; rider. This motivation saw him play a starring role in 2020, his anti-Quartararo therapy clearly having worked. And now, Frankie finds himself alongside none other than Rossi.  You&rsquo;ve been in the championship since 2014, and after three years you enjoyed your first wins and secured the Moto2 title. You debuted in MotoGP in 2018 and 2021 will be your fourth year&hellip; Complete the phrase&hellip;  &quot;I can&rsquo;t make predictions. I don&rsquo;t have a crystal ball and don&rsquo;t know what my results will be&rdquo;.  An elite sportsperson always has clear goals, and yours is the title, right?  &quot;I don&rsquo;t know if all top-level athletes have clear goals. I&rsquo;ve never had them for example, I&rsquo;ve always gone on my feelings, following my heart. I&rsquo;ve always tried to move with the natural speed of things, without putting pressure on myself. I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed myself in everything I do, and I want to continue to do so, achieving all I can in every race&rdquo;.  From the outside, you are perhaps the rider for whom it is hardest to attribute strengths, in terms of your riding. Can you help us?  &quot;I don&rsquo;t know, it&rsquo;s unclear even to me! With my riding style, there&rsquo;s no one characteristic that stands out over the others. I think it depends a lot on the race, I adapt my style to what is required in that moment, to the feeling and set-up that we put together with Ramon Forcada&quot;.  The relationship you have with your future team-mate Valentino Rossi is special, and you&rsquo;ve always said that you owe him everything, career wise. Are you ready to take a risk and duel with him on the last lap?  &quot;It depends how great the risk is. But it&rsquo;s not a &lsquo;personal&rsquo; issue, rather it&rsquo;s related to the risk. I&rsquo;m ready to duel with Valentino, 100%, just like with any other rider&rdquo;.  It&rsquo;s a legitimate doubt, sometimes other Italian riders have been more &lsquo;prudent&rsquo; when they find themselves there with Valentino.  &quot;On the last lap, it doesn&rsquo;t matter who you find up ahead. Their name doesn&rsquo;t matter, it&rsquo;s just a rival that you want to beat&rdquo;.  When he battled with Pecco Bagnaia in Moto2, two years ago, Lorenzo Baldassarri confessed that he could no longer pretend that the rivalry with his VR46 Riders Academy team-mate didn&rsquo;t exist. Do you think a similar situation might arise with Pecco, who you beat at Misano on the day of your first MotoGP win?  &quot;At that time, Pecco and Balda were also housemates. Ok, it&rsquo;s true that he and I have trained together for a long time, but then we have our own lives, we each have our own home, family, girlfriend&rdquo;.  There are two flags on your helmet, Brazil and Italy. To what extent are you Brazilian when riding and in everyday life, and to what extent are you Italian?  &quot;I&rsquo;m very Italian on the bike, focused on every detail, but then I&rsquo;m Brazilian over the final two or three laps, particularly when battling for a result. In those situations, you need to be a little Brazilian, that liveliness and that dose of &lsquo;madness&rsquo; that you need in a head-to-head battle&quot;.    And when you&rsquo;re not riding?  (he thinks for a second) &quot;In life I&rsquo;m Italian when I train, and Brazilian after midnight. After midnight I&rsquo;m 100% Brazilian&quot;.  Who do you see when you look in the mirror?  &quot;A person who is focused on improving. I like what I see, in general&rdquo;.  In what way would you like to be different?  &quot;I&rsquo;d like to be two or three years younger maybe, that would be perfect. But you can&rsquo;t always have perfect&rdquo;.  What could you do if you were three years younger?  &quot;Nothing particular in life, but in sport it would mean two or three more years in terms of my career&quot;.  What&rsquo;s something that you cannot abide?  &quot;A lack of respect, no doubt. That&rsquo;s what makes me most angry&rdquo;.  There&rsquo;s a saying according to which a person&rsquo;s profession shapes their character, so a rider is&hellip;?  &quot;Selfish&quot;.  Andrea Dovizioso said that his passion for MX was a way to disconnect from MotoGP, and that at this level a rider needs something so that they&rsquo;re not always focused on work. What&rsquo;s your &ldquo;escape&rdquo;?  &quot;Talking MotoGP with my friends. In general, talking about bikes with my friends helps me to relax. I can speak freely, something you can&rsquo;t do with people in the paddock&quot;.  This has definitely helped Morbidelli who, with three wins in the last nine races, finished the year as the strongest rider. Perhaps, with a couple more races, he might even have been able to fight Joan Mir for the title right to the end. But there&rsquo;s always 2021.  Translated by Heather Watson  Eddie Lawson: &ldquo;I hope MotoGP doesn&#39;t follow Formula 1&rdquo; 

The world championship runner-up looks at himself in the mirror: &quot;On track I&rsquo;m Italian, but over the last two or three laps my Brazilian side emerges &ndash; you need a little &lsquo;madness&rsquo; in a duel. I don&rsquo;t travel with a goal, the key is to follow your heart and have fun on the bike&rdquo;

Exclusive, Morbidelli: &ldquo;Italian when I train, Brazilian after midnight&rdquo;

        Furious yes, but with himself. This is the Fabio Quartararo we are seeing in the final stages of a 2020 MotoGP championship that appeared to be his for the taking. He&rsquo;d promised as much last year and continued to do so at the start of this season. The 2019 Rookie of the Year began with a lethal pitchfork, which he inflicted on his rivals in Andalusia, post-lockdown. With Marc Marquez out, the Frenchman was &ndash; as it turns out &ndash; misleading the STR Petronas fans and management, all of whom hoped for a possible championship title, with Quartararo leading up until the Grand Prix of Europe. Valencia proved fatal though, and in seven days he lost his head, his lead, and a possible trophy. The performance of El Diablo and the turquoise M1 color verde acqua has seesawed for sure, the Frenchman able to console himself only with the fact that he has won the most races as things stand, with three wins to his name. This will weigh on his shoulders, clearly not too strong when it comes to handling the pressure put upon him by his team, sponsors, managers and rivals. Team-mate Franco Morbidelli has scored the same number of first-place finishes. But unlike Franco, the Italo-Brazilian has not caused agitation or tension, &lsquo;Mordibo&rsquo; in fact calming the waters. And this despite him having a 2019 M1 and no future (as yet) as a factory rider. Cursed Valencia  At Ricardo Tormo, 'Quarta' went overboard&hellip; Mistakes in practice, distractions during qualifying, crashes &ndash; two &ndash; in the race. How can a rider who thinks about his bike&rsquo;s limitations rather than its advantages hope to win the title? The same behaviour demonstrated by Vinales and Rossi, in reality. It&rsquo;s impossibile, as history teaches us. We know that the rider will always seek perfection. But the same rider knows that perfection doesn&rsquo;t exist. It&rsquo;s all about compromise and walking a knife&rsquo;s edge. This is MotoGP, just ask Valentino Rossi. When it came down to managing the situation, Fabio got it wrong and, like Maverick Vinales, he got nervous. We know the Spaniard is temperamental, and the Frenchman risks going the same way. We hope not, seeing as next year they&rsquo;ll be together on the same team. Think of the complaining&hellip; And yet, the Yamaha has won the most out of all the MotoGP bikes  Let&rsquo;s consider the sum total of the Japanese bike&rsquo;s successes. As we&rsquo;ve said, Quartararo is on three, with Jerez, Jerez and Barcelona. The same goes for Franco Morbidelli, with Misano, Arag&ograve;n and Valencia. Maverick Vinales has just one, scored at Misano, while Valentino Rossi is stuck on zero, after a terrible year. So the figure is seven. Not bad, in such a short (but intense) championship. Also because the other manufacturers are further back, Ducati with two &ndash; one win apiece for Dovi and Petrux, in Austria and France - KTM and Suzuki also on two. With only one race to go, no one can catch Yamaha.  So what does this tell us? Simple: the M1 is the best MotoGP bike. We wouldn&rsquo;t be convinced listening to the riders&rsquo; comments, with the exception of Morbido&rsquo;s continuously positive words. If a Yamaha wins, it&rsquo;s down to the rider &ndash; as the riders say &ndash; but if it doesn&rsquo;t win, it&rsquo;s down to the M1 - as the riders also say - so something doesn&rsquo;t add up. Franco is above such musings though. And there&rsquo;s the thing. What is lacking is serenity. The imbalance caused when the initial cards were shuffled saw certain riders dealing with a level of pressure for which they were unprepared. Quartararo first and foremost, confirmed as a factory rider months ago already, as if Iwata knew it had found a replacement for (the good) Rossi and (equally good) Lorenzo. But that&rsquo;s not the case right now. While last year he was able to race calmly with limited responsibility, the situation has now changed. For the worst, if we look at his face. We all make mistakes but the idea is not to repeat them. El Diablo meanwhile has flogged himself. Going from MotoGP leader to fifth so quickly is a demise perhaps never before seen in the top class. Morbidelli, why not factory?  A good question, so who wants to answer? We know that Valentino will replace Quartararo in Petronas, and that Fabio will move up to Monster Energy. But why the Frenchman and not Franco? &ldquo;Eh, but the 2019 bike is better than the 2020 version&rdquo;. Who says? And it&rsquo;s not true because, as we&rsquo;ve said, the new M1 has scored four wins, the &lsquo;old&rsquo; one three. No no. We&rsquo;ll tell you why the Italo-Brazilian deserves more attention. He&rsquo;s already won a Moto2 title, and a Stock600 title, and so he knows how to deal with pressure. Quartararo no. Maverick did so in Moto3, although it appears he doesn&rsquo;t remember, while Joan Mir did the same, and has remembered it well this year. Very well in fact. Translated by Heather Watson Career at risk for Marquez? Dr. Costa: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to consider it, but...&rdquo;       

The Frenchman looked to be a worthy successor to Marc Marquez, instead the mistakes have outweighed his indisputable talents. Number 20 has gone from championship leader to fifth in a matter of races, Franco Morbidelli performing better

5 risultati per 'EN Yamaha petronas'

MotoGP, Rossi admits: “I already considered retiring in 2019”

MotoGP Portugal, Morbidelli: “I’ve not lost my motivation”

MotoGP: a teaser ahead of the Yamaha Petronas presentation

Exclusive, Morbidelli: “Italian when I train, Brazilian after midnight”

MotoGP: Fabio Quartararo, the devil who flogged himself