"I hope to continue in 2021" - Rossi on his MotoGP™ future

In an interview with MotoGP™ commentator Matt Birt, The Doctor indicated he will be back racing in 2021

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Valentino Rossi has given his biggest hint yet that he will continue racing in MotoGP™ beyond this year. During an interview with teammate Maverick Viñales and MotoGP™ commentator Matt Birt, the nine-time World Champion admitted that the current situation is not the way he would want his illustrious MotoGP™ career to come to an end, so he is hopeful of continuing with Yamaha in the 2021 MotoGP™ World Championship.

Rossi won't have a seat in the factory team from next year onwards with Fabio Quartararo moving up to partner Viñales, meaning the possibility of seeing Rossi in the Petronas Yamaha SRT squad is starting to look more and more likely. The Italian says he has the motivation to continue but won't get the 'five or six' races he had initially hoped for to make a decision on his future.

"I am in a difficult situation because, like I said, my first option is to try to continue," said Rossi. "I have enough motivation and I want to continue. It’s very important to understand the level of competition because especially in the second part of last year we suffered very much and too many times I was too slow and I had to fight outside of the top 5. In my mind, I had another year with the factory team and I needed time to decide and for me, I need like five or six races, with the new chief mechanic, and some modifications in the team to understand if I can be strong.

"The problem is that there’s no racing. So with the virus, we cannot race. So I will have to decide before racing because in the most optimistic situation we can race in the second half of the season, so August or September we hope. But I have to make my decision before. But anyway I want to continue but I’ve had to make this decision without any races.

"It’s not the best way to stop because the situation is that maybe we don’t race in 2020. So it’s fairer for me to do another championship and stop at the end of the next, so I hope to continue in 2021."

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