The will he, won’t he saga of whether Valentino Rossi will continue racing into the 2022 MotoGP World Championship still has a few more weeks left in it, with Petronas SRT Yamaha boss Razlan Razali confirming there won’t be any announcement in Austria.
Rossi, who switched from the Yamaha Factory team to Petronas SRT over the winter, is in the throngs of his worst MotoGP season yet with a best race result of tenth and only 19th in the overall standings.
With the Italian’s complaints about the rear tyre having dogged him since 2019 now, with no apparent improvement on the horizon it has fanned flames of speculation that this will indeed be his last season in the top flight.
Yamaha has afforded Rossi the privilege of first refusal on a Petronas SRT seat for 2022, with the nine-time GP World Champion saying he will use the current summer break as the opportunity to make a decision.
However, that doesn’t mean it will be communicated when MotoGP returns to action with back-to-back races in Austria. In the meantime, Petronas SRT boss Razlan Razali is waiting patiently for a decision.
"It’s important to remember that we’re still waiting to hear Valentino and Yamaha’s decision about next year,” he told MotoGP.com. “Anyway, and as is normal in this period of the year, the latest news regarding the MotoGP riders’ market has certainly opened up all possibilities!
"It’s an on-going discussion between Yamaha, ourselves and our current MotoGP riders, and we’re not in a rush to announce anything.
Petronas SRT Yamaha is already looking for one rider on the assumption Franco Morbidelli will be Factory bound for 2022 to replace the departing Maverick Vinales.
With Toprak Razgatlioglu turning the ride down in favour of a WorldSBK title tilt instead, the likes of Garrett Gerloff, Raul Fernandez and Xavi Vierge have all been hinted as potential replacements.
"We have been receiving interest from a lot of riders and even riders that are currently outside the MotoGP championship who want to join our team.
"We believe that we have time and are in a position where we have the luxury to choose; everybody knows of the package that Yamaha can offer and what a young rider can potentially do as part of our team. We have the structure and the package to offer young riders the opportunity to achieve their dreams.“
