February 2003 Davide Brivio attended a secret meeting with Valentino Rossi and told him outright “We want you…you’re the only reason we can’t beat Honda…as long as you race for them, we’re not going to beat them”.

All the latest talk has been preoccupied with how Rossi will do when he goes to F1, but where does this leave Yamaha? It leaves Yamaha back to facing the same dilemma they were forced to face before they took Rossi on in the first place.

Yamaha were in a mess prior to Rossi signing up. Yamaha signed up Rossi because they knew they needed him to beat Honda. Whatever requests Rossi made concerning the development of the bike, Yamaha were on it straight away. When Rossi returned from testing the M1 the Yamaha team would wait silently and in anticipation for his verdict. Rossi was the key holder. As a result of this, Rossi along with the Yamaha team have developed a winning bike to suit the requirements of Rossi. Yamaha are now at the top of the manufacturer standings. Honda has the remaining best riders in MotoGP, but has not been able to come close to challenging Rossi for the title.

Yamaha proudly claims that their motorcycle technology is based on their ‘Humachine Technology’ a term used to express the engineering focus on achieving perfect harmony between the rider and his machine. This theory seems nice and somewhat plausible, when the best development rider on the market is available. But what will happen to Yamaha, when they are left with a bike, minus the rider that it was made for? They will be left with a bike specifically made to meet Rossi’s needs, not just any old Tom, Dick or Harry. They might as well say that their methods are based on ‘Rossichine Technology’ rather than ‘Humachine’.

Yamaha were underachieving before Rossi came along. Without him, they are going to end up in a tricky situation. They will inevitably need a rider that can live up to Rossi’s standards. The development skills that Rossi has and his relationship he has with his team is going to be almost impossible to replace. Look at his competitors. None of them have had the balls to say to their teams ‘this is what I need; this is what I want, now hop along and make it possible. Build my perfect bike for me to win on, so I can put your name on the top of the manufacturer standings’. All the other riders feel they have got far too much to lose. Some may argue that it is not that easy. But if Rossi thought like this, or Yamaha for that matter, he would not be in the position he is in now.

Evidently, the credit of Yamaha winning the championship will be on Rossi’s shoulders. Yamaha can only take the credit for facing up to the fact that for them to get anywhere in MotoGP, they needed a rider with the right attitude, brains and skill to enable them to do this. A ‘humachine technology’ is all good and well with the most appropriate rider, but without this, it is of no use. So far, it is only Rossi at the forefront of such a theory, not the manufacturer. Without him, it is only an ideal. Once Rossi has left Yamaha, Yamaha will be facing the same difficulties they were 2 years ago.

Will Yamaha be able to maintain their success without Rossi? Well unless they find another ‘Rossi’, their winning days may be somewhat numbered.

Hop onboard this bandwagon through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Your opinion counts too, so tell the world.