A carom of fate in mid-2018 wanted Jorge Lorenzo first, and Dani Pedrosa later, two superstars in the final part of their career, to reject the offer to join the nascent project of the Petronas SRT team, led by the then CEO of the Sepang Circuit, Razlan Razali .
This situation opened the door for the Malaysian team, which was going to debut in the queen class in 2019, to announce the signing of Franco Morbidelli and the young talent without any record in the intermediate classes Fabio Quartararo, which turned to Petronas SRT in a Yamaha ‘junior team’.
The impact of the Frenchman was immediate and in his rookie season he achieved seven podiums, starring in some spectacular fights with Marc Márquez. 2020 was the great year for Petronas, with Quartararo and Morbidelli winning three races each and the Italian achieving the runner-up position, confirming that the philosophy of working with young talents, even if it was carom, was the right direction.
Everything began to go wrong when in January 2020 Yamaha announced Fabio’s promotion to the factory team a year in advance, and began working to send Valentino Rossi, who was left without a place, to the satellite team.
Reviewing in an interview with Speedweek what he would change about his management in the three years of Team Principal of Petronas SRT-Yamaha, Razali admits that in some aspects he would act differently.
“If I could go back in time, in June 2021 I would have decided to accept the first renewal offer from Petronas. But I wanted to negotiate for more money”, explains the Malaysian, who after forcing a contract improvement found that Petronas decided not to continue in MotoGP, a maneuver for which, finally, Razali had to apologize.
It is not the only thing that the owner of the re-founded WithU Yamaha RNF regrets, which next season will compete with Andrea Dovizioso and the rookie Darryn Binder.
“To be honest, we should never have signed Valentino Rossi,” he laments now.
When Yamaha announced the signing of Quartararo so early, it maneuvered for Rossi to take his place, offering him treatment and an official rider motorcycle.
“It was always assumed that we had no choice but to sign Valentino in 2021. We were supposed to be under pressure from Yamaha, but there was no such pressure,” he reveals.
“Personally I was skeptical, until Valentino was third on the podium alongside Fabio and Maverick Viñales at the second Jerez Grand Prix in July 2020. When I was standing next to the three drivers on the podium, my mind was like: OK Maybe this guy can do it.”
“After that, the results turned out to be bad. But by then the decision to sign Valentino had already been made.”
The result was that in 2021 the Petronas team did not achieve any interesting results. With Morbidelli’s injury and Rossi’s poor performance, the contrast with the previous year was great.
“I think Valentino put himself under pressure. Young drivers are much faster. Valentino set better lap times than in the past. But that was not enough. He wanted to be successful, his heart and mind were prepared for it, but his body did not accept it”, settles the Malaysian.
All Valentino Rossi’s bikes in MotoGP
(Click on ‘Full version’ at the end of the article if the photos do not appear)
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Aprilia Racing
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Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Richard Sloop
Photo by: Richard Sloop
Photo de: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
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Photo de: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
Photo de: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
Photo de: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
Photo de: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
Photo by: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
Photo by: Gauloises Fortuna Racing
Photo by: Camel Media Service
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation
Photo by: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo de: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah
Photo de: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo by: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo by: Yamaha Motor Racing
Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah
Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah
Photo by: Ducati Corse
Photo by: Ducati Corse
Foto de: Yamaha MotoGP
Foto de: Yamaha MotoGP
Foto de: Yamaha MotoGP
Foto de: Yamaha MotoGP
Foto de: Yamaha MotoGP
Foto de: Yamaha MotoGP
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Toni Börner
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
