El Diablo will ride the nine-time champ’s Yamaha this year, having signed a contract in early 2020 prior to what was a disappointing season. Will he rise to the challenge?
04.01.2021 20:15
In 2021, Maverich Viñales will be flanked by Fabio Quartararo, who has the honour and responsibility of replacing Valentino Rossi following his fifteen-year period of “service” at Yamaha, interrupted only by a two-year stint with Ducati.
The question many are asking is whether the Frenchman is up to the challenge of replacing the nine-time world champion. Not in terms of personality – because the Doctor’s uniqueness is not up for debate – but in terms of race results.
Valentino in numbers...
When Valentino Rossi moved to Yamaha in 2004, he already had five world titles to his name, one in 125 and one in 250 with Aprilia, one in the 500 class with Honda and two in MotoGP, again with Honda.
Once in Yamaha colours, Rossi won his very first race, and followed this up with two fourth-place finishes and then three consecutive wins, before scoring another triple at the end of the season, following two additional wins and two second places, for a total of nine wins. Interestingly, in 2004, Rossi tallied the same number of wins as he did the previous year with Honda, or rather nine, including two ‘triples’. Two years prevously, he had scored seven consecutive wins.
So the numbers were definitely there. The same can’t be said of his team-mate Maverick Viñales, who arrived in Yamaha in 2017 with one world title already in the bag, scored four years previously in the cadet class. He had finished fourth in the 2016 season with one race win to his name, but immediately scored two wins in 2017 with the factory Yamaha.
MotoGP 2020, Valentino Rossi’s annus horribilis
...And Quartararo’s
Fabio Quartararo has not yet won a world title. In Moto3 his best result was a tenth place finish in 2015, with no race wins. Then in 2017 he moved to Moto2 and the following year he achieved his first (and only) win in the intermediate class, finishing tenth overall.
His results stepped up once he landed in the reigning class, in 2019. Six races in, and he scored a second-place finish in Catalunya and a third place in Holland. The Frenchman concluded his first MotoGP season with a further four second places and a third place, positioning fifth overall aboard the Petronas Yamaha.
A result that appeared almost miraculous and that convinced Yamaha bosses to secure the Frenchman for their factory team, discharging Valentino Rossi.
'El Diablo' in hell
But then the Diablo experienced a ‘hellish’ year. Despite scoring his first win, which he followed up with a further two victories, he then failed to return to the podium, clocking up two DNFs and struggling to finish inside the points zone on three occasions, closing the 2020 season in eighth place overall, while his team-mate Franco Morbidelli finished as championship runner up.
Quartararo was even leading the championship at one point, but was unable to take off, gradually losing points along the way. He often said he was less than comfortable aboard the 2020 Yamaha and hoped for a return to the 2019 model.
It seems clear that El Diablo struggled to deal with the pressure, he himself admitting that he would visit a psychologist this winter.
What will happen in 2021?
Quartararo has stated that he’s aiming for the title this season. But the road definitely has its obstacles. And the competition will be tough. As for Yamaha, there’s a risk that Franco Morbidelli could once again do better than the Frenchman, despite the fact he will continue on in Petronas colours. He’s already beaten him after all, and this was despite him riding the previous year’s bike, while Quartararo already had the 2020 version.
As Ramon Forcada said, Morbidelli was initially in the shadows due to Quartararo’s results. But now things have turned on their heads. Will El Diablo be able to deal with the pressure of being on a factory team in place of none other than Valentino Rossi?
In addition, and according to Loris Capirossi, the nine-time champ might have even greater motivation to prove to Yamaha that it has made a mistake in dismissing him from the factory team.
Essentially, Fabio is not in for an easy ride. It looks as if we’re in for a Yamaha derby between the factory and ‘satellite’ riders and it will be very interesting to see who tops the ‘Iwata standings’ in 2021.
Translated by Heather Watson
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