This story was invoked by David Bribio, the influence of instruments in Valentino Rossi’s career.
The idea of Suzuki signing Valentino Rossi seems crazy now, but that may have happened many years ago.
“I have to start in 2011 when I was working for Valentino,” Brivio told Slick Magazine in Italy. “Like him, I left Yamaha at the end of 2010.
“At the end of 2011, there was Suzuki (left motoGP), but in the paddock, they raced just to honor the contract with Dona, as they already wanted to stop at the end of 2010.
“It was known that the story would not end in Paddock as the official statement announcing the withdrawal said, ‘We will be returned.’
“But I certainly didn’t think I had to deal with Suzuki right away at the time.”
Valentino Rossi, MotoGP, MotoGP in Italy May 28th
Meanwhile, Rossi was on the middle of an unfortunate switch to Ducati. What’s wrong with the legend of Italian motorcycle racing, joining the iconic Italian bicycle brand?
He was already a seven-time world champion in the premier class, but at age 31, chasing more history, he left Yamaha, a team synonymous with Rossi.
Rossi and Ducati never went well. After a terrifying debut season in 2011, he was already considering moves elsewhere.
“In early 2012, (Suzuki Motogpu boss) sahara contacted me,” continued Bribio.
“He said: “We really want to go back and we’ll do it in 2014 so we want to know if Valentino is interested in joining the project.”
“I told Valentino about it – I knew his contract with Ducati would be in effect until the end of the 2012 championship – and he said he needed a bike in 2013, not 2014, so he couldn’t wait for Suzuki.
September 16th, San Marino Motogu, Motogu, Valentino Rossi
“And that’s exactly what I said to Sahara. ‘Thank you for your interest, but we can’t do anything,” I explained.
“He noticed, and for a while we didn’t hear from each other. But after a while, the Sahara contacted me again. And this time he told me: “If we keep Italy as the base for the new Suzuki team, are you interested in managing it?”
“When the Sahara contacted me for Valentino, he also said they were willing to set up an Italian team headquarters to keep it close to him.
“So the idea of building a base in Italy was already there.
“Anyway, I answered this time: “Yes, I’m interested.”
“It was the summer of 2012 and in the beginning of the fall I went to Japan and started talking about new projects.”
Valentino Rossi, Motogp Algarve, November 5th
Brivio became Suzuki’s MotoGP boss in 2013, and Rossi rejoined Yamaha at the same time.
Rossi completed nine more MotoGP seasons, but was unable to recapture the success of his first glittering spell.
Meanwhile, Brivio led Suzuki rider Joanne Mir to the 2020 world title. He currently runs the Truckhouse Aprilia team.
What happened if the stars were all there and Rossi went to Suzuki instead?
That’s an appealing idea – especially Suzuki will leave MotoGP again in 2023. Will they go back and target?