'What the hell?' - Rossi stuns his MotoGP rider
MotoGP legend and team owner Valentino Rossi is back in the paddock at the Catalan Grand Prix this weekend - and his duo of VR46 Ducati riders Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli say his "insane eye" is proving a huge asset.
Speaking after Friday’s practice sessions, where Rossi was trackside spotting for his two racers, Di Giannantonio was quick to stress just how significant it is to have his boss watching him, such is still the detailed level of feedback provided by the seven-time premier-class champion during his now-rare visits to the track.
“It’s amazing,” he explained. “For sure I don’t have to comment on the [ability of the] rider himself - but the eye that he has is insane. I really get surprised every time because he sees things that you can see only on the data - and he sees these things and you’re like, ‘are you on track with me? What the hell?’.
“He is able to see a lot of things from the others and from you, so it’s really interesting, really helpful, and really a great opportunity for me to learn and improve when Valentino is here.
“For this also, in these years I was asking a lot of times: ‘When are you coming? When are you coming? When are you coming back?’
"Not just for the presence itself, that is already huge, because the energy that he brings is amazing - but you can really improve a lot with Vale in the garage.”
That ability, according to Di Giannantonio, extends even to Rossi’s skill in understanding things that he hasn’t fully experienced, like the dramatic development of MotoGP aerodynamics since he left the championship in 2021.
“It’s easy,” he added when asked about talking about the wings on the Ducati. “When you explain, if you give a little input, he sees immediately everything on track. So it’s like he has this great capacity of understanding easily what’s new, what he didn’t try [as a rider]. You explain - and he got it.
“When he does a comment back, the comment is right, like if he tried it. It’s like, 'wow, how are you doing this?'. It’s incredible, this thing.”
Those sentiments were echoed by in-form Di Giannantonio’s team-mate Morbidelli, who is struggling to adapt to the year-old GP25 machine so far this season but concurs that having his mentor’s input is a valuable resource.
“He’s a genius of motorcycles,” Morbidelli added. “When you’re a genius of that, you can do things that are difficult to understand.
“He says that he sees that I’m struggling. I’m struggling with entry, I’m struggling in the exit of the corners.
“He sees that, and he’s giving me a lot of help to face the lines, to approach the lines of the track in the best way to have the best performance.”
