Valentino Rossi does not rule out that he will be the racer of his team

Before the race in Jerez, Valentino Rossi revealed a few more details about his career and his own team in MotoGP in the 2022 season. "At the beginning of the VR46 project, we didn't think about MotoGP, but step by step we were offered this opportunity and in the end we said to ourselves, why not?" said the Italian, who jokingly said he was being offered the opportunity to pursue a racing career with his team. "If I want to race, I can keep one engine to myself because I'm the boss."

In a more serious tone, he then explained: “My team at MotoGP will not have much influence on the decision about my future, as my priority is to continue with the Petronas team. So at this point, I would have a hard time racing for my team, although I can’t completely rule that out, as things change from day to day. For now, let's say it's difficult, but not impossible, but first we have to see if I'll be competitive later in the season, which will affect my future. ”

The nine-time world champion is said to have certain performance criteria in his contract with the Petronas team, which he is supposed to meet if he wants a new contract with the Malaysian team.

The Italian obtained significant funding from Saudi Arabia for his VR46 team on Wednesday, which was accepted by many on social media with a degree of resistance, as it is a country where human rights do not always come first. "Aramco has supported teams in a variety of sports over the years, from football to Formula One, and they are also an important partner for us," he explained. “Maybe we can improve things, but our collaboration is business. I didn't talk to them myself, because there are a lot of people in the VR46 team who deal with this, and I'm mainly a racer, and I'm only involved in all of this as a boss. ”

Which engines the team will use is still unknown, but it is rumored that Rossi is expected to sign a clause before returning to Yamaha in 2013 that prohibits him from dipping into MotoGP with any engine other than Yamaha. "As I said, the first priority is to continue with the Petronas SRT team, and I honestly don't remember this clause. No matter what engines we have, I will still be a hard racer of my own team. I’m not too into the flow of events, but I don’t think we’ve decided yet which engines we’re going to use. But we have already talked to everyone, Aprilia, Ducati Yamaha and Suzuki. ”