Valentino Rossi will not have good memories of a 2020 exercise which gave him his worst ranking in the world championship of his entire prolific career. A fifteenth place due to technical problems, health problems with COVID-19 and personal faults, including three falls. He explains that the context did not favor his development and that the 2021 season will be better. But how could it be decently worse?
What's more, at the end of this 2020 campaign, Valentino Rossi probably forever abandoned his status as a factory driver. Next year he will go to Petronas, the excellent satellite team Yamaha , to find one of its brilliant academicians there in the person of Franco Morbidelli. Also vice-world champion.
But how did the Doctor end up suffering so much this year in MotoGP ? He explains : " it was hard, it was actually a very complicated season. In this situation, everything becomes difficult, especially traveling. We also only rode a few tracks, often twice. And we came to some places at the wrong time. Sometimes it was too hot, like in Jerez, sometimes it was too cold, for example in Le Mans. But we had the same tires as usual. It was difficult to face this ».
He adds : " I must say that the season was difficult for everyone. And the circumstances affected the championship ". It will be recalled that the premier category only kicked off on July 19 in Jerez, followed by 13 other Grands Prix in four months, spread over nine circuits.
The provisional schedule for the upcoming season, on the other hand, is again based on the usual dates and locations. However, all dates should be assessed with reservation, as they depend on the evolution of the pandemic and the corresponding decisions of the respective authorities.
Rossi regrets too many enemy circuits
« I hope, but I also believe, that next year will be better », comments Vale. “ I think the key is to organize the races in Europe on the classic date, so Jerez in May, Catalonia in June… I hope that next year at least the European races will all take place on different tracks, and at the right time. If it can happen like this, it would already be a good level world championship. It might be a little more difficult to race outside of Europe. But we'll have to wait until next year to see ».
The 41-year-old pilot finishes: “ If there had been more races, maybe on tracks I like, then I would have been ready. Because this year, a lot of the season was spent on tracks that aren't really my friends », Said the winner 115 times, but who wrote seven zeros this year.
As a reminder, Red missed the Aragon double due to his coronavirus infection, and he suffered an engine failure and electronic problem, as well as three consecutive racing accidents. However, he recognizes speedweek : " you also have to keep in mind that it is better to race like this than not at all ».
