Former Yamaha and Suzuki team manager Davide Brivio, now head of Aprilia TrackHouse, looks back on Valentino Rossi's decision to join Yamaha in 2004, an era marked by internal struggles and opposing visions within the Japanese manufacturer.
The year 2004 marked a decisive turning point in the history of MotoGP with the arrival of
Valentino Rossi chez Yamaha. This transfer, considered daring at the time, upset the balance of the world championship and allowed the Japanese brand to return to victory. However, behind this bold choice lie heated debates and internal resistanceas recently told Davide Brivioformer team manager of
Yamaha.
At that time, Rossi was already a legend, accumulating world titles at Honda. However, in search of a new challenge, the Doctor chose to leave the dominant stable for a Yamaha in the midst of a crisis. A choice described as “crazy” by many, and which sparked divisions within the Iwata brand.
« Some at Yamaha were against the idea of signing him “, revealed Brivio on crash.net. “ They said: 'If he comes and we don't win, it will be Yamaha's fault. If he wins, it will be thanks to Valentino. As a brand, we have nothing to gain from this.' » A purely corporatist vision which opposed that of Rossidetermined to prove that the pilot's talent could overcome the shortcomings of an inferior machine to the Honda RC211V.
Davide Brivio: « we have restored a certain value to man, to sport compared to motorcycles »
The opposition did not stop there. Another faction within
Yamaha claimed that they did not need
Rossiconvinced that they could build a bike capable of winning with any rider. But reality proved these skeptics wrong. From its first season,
Valentino Rossi overturned the hierarchy. He offered to Yamaha a world title that she had not touched for years and, above all, it reinvented her image. The domination was such that his teammate Carlos Checa finished 187 points behind him in 2004.
Brivio admits that, without Rossi,
Yamaha would probably have taken years to convince another top driver. But beyond the results, the impact of Rossi was philosophical.
Yamaha learned to value its drivers as much as its machines, a change which allowed the arrival of Jorge Lorenzo in 2008 and marked a new era.
Davide Brivio states: “ Valentino changed the mentality and the culture, the racing mentality, within Yamaha. I am very proud of it because I think we have given back a certain value to man, to sport. I think at that time we felt like we had helped balance the importance of motorcycling a little bit more versus the importance of the driver “. With RossiYamaha has not only won titles: it has redefined its vision of MotoGP. A risky bet, but a total victory.
