Lorenzo: I don’t know why Yamaha made this choice

IT MAY WELL have been all smiles and handshakes between Rossi and Lorenzo at the official unveiling of the 2010 Fiat Yamaha MotoGP team, but the rivalry between the riders appears to be as strong as ever.

The team has confirmed the pair will not be sharing data for the 2010 season; a decision that's prompted opposing responses from the MotoGP duo.

Rossi is happy about the decision to work with his own team, excluding Lorenzo from any valuable data found in testing, practice, qualifying or during a race. However, Lorenzo isn't so keen on the idea of working on his own, believing the split will hamper the development of the company's already highly succesfu lM1 racebike:

“I have great respect for Valentino. He has an incredible talent and is an intelligent person," said the Spaniard.

"Last year I was close to beating him and with a step forward I can have the chance to succeed. I do not care what he says, I’m not interested in copying his bike’s settings to win. In 2009, we compared data and there were races where we did well, in others both Valentino and I did worse. I don’t know why Yamaha made this choice, I believe that this will slow down development on the bike. However I’m not worried, I’m self sufficient.”

Rossi, on the other hand, seems far less agitated by the team's decision:

“Speaking with Yamaha I think Jorge, especially last year and already in 2008, demonstrated great speed and a good attitude to fix and set the bike,” said Rossi. “Now he has been in the team for two years, so everyone agrees that it’s possible for everyone to make their own way. Also, Jorge wants to work more on the development, so I think it’s right that everyone does his job alone. But at the end it doesn’t change a lot because all the comments between me and Jorge are quite similar, so it’s not a big change.”

Only time will tell, but we think Rossi will still have the upperhand come race day. Title number 10, anyone?