While the end of Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP career wasn’t necessarily the most successful part of his work, he was never afraid to stand up for his colleagues.
In fact, his final year in MotoGP back in 2021 was the only season ever in which he failed to score a podium after struggling on a Yamaha bike.
Rossi had been dropped from the factory team at the end of the previous season after finishing 15th in the riders’ standings.
The following campaign would be even more miserable, with an 18th-place finish and just 44 points all year long.
Jorge Lorenzo made an eerily accurate Rossi prediction after beating him in 2015, claiming that he would never win another title. He turned out to be quite correct.
Rossi took one final MotoGP ‘risk’ during his final campaign by racing until he felt he no longer could. At the age of 42, he had done all he could.
Valentino Rossi once told MotoGP bosses that the French Grand Prix was too ‘dangerous’ in 2021
The 2021 French Grand Prix was a chaotic affair, with a dry start before a chaotic downpour on lap five of the race.
The riders would have to swap bikes before the finish, which resulted in a Jack Miller win despite a long-lap penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Fortunately for the home fans, two home favourites would join him on the podium with Johann Zarco in second and Fabio Quartararo third.
Rossi was not pleased with the conditions, especially without any stoppages and complained about the way the event was run after the race.
“Personally, I don’t like the flag-to-flag races, especially because they are more dangerous,” he told Autosport. “More than the stress, it’s difficult, it’s more dangerous.
“Sometimes we have to go with the slick tyre on the wet, or the opposite. I prefer more the long 45-minute race, because you can take your rhythm, you can take your strategy. Here’s it’s more tricky.”
How the 2021 French Grand Prix was nearly repeated in 2025
Fast-forward to 2025, and riders faced almost the opposite situation at the Grand Prix of Americas as the track dried at a rapid pace.
Compared to practice on Friday, water was escaping from the tarmac far quicker, and it ended up catching some by surprise.
Marc Marquez’s late decision to dip into the pits before the race caused chaos, and eventually a red flag as his rivals followed him.
Nobody got any real advantage out of it, and the real losers were those who gambled to start with a slick bike rather than a wet one. They should have been rewarded.
The rules have since been tweaked, and there will now be a double long-lap penalty for those who opt to do the same in the future. It wasn’t fair in COTA.
