MotoGP Catalunya: Valentino Rossi expects to sign Petronas SRT deal this weekend

Valentino Rossi has assured fans that he expects to sign the deal with the Petronas SRT team this weekend.

After waiting months for some sort of agreement, it looks like Rossi to Petronas will finally be confirmed this weekend, rumours and delays have stopped the process from happening yet with Rossi saying he was ‘99%’ sure he was signing for the team.

The deal will be for just one year, Rossi and Petronas did discuss a 1+1 deal, but Rossi confirmed he wants to stick to just one year for now and see how it goes.

Once the deal is finalised, Rossi will ride with VR46 Academy rider Franco Morbidelli, swapping places with Fabio Quartararo who will join Maverick Vinales in the factory team.

The deal was delayed for a long while with Rossi confirming that the reason why it was delayed is that he feels contracts are signed too early, “For me, sometimes in MotoGP people sign the contract for the next year too early. A lot of time you already start to think of the next season before thinking about the current season, I think that day by day, step by step everybody signs earlier, for example, we sign a lot earlier than Formula One drivers.”

“I will race with Petronas next year, between the Misano races we fixed everything. The situation is very clear but the contract is a little bit long, some things to fix and we are not in a hurry, sincerely, because we are already agreed.

But I think that during this weekend I will sign the contract and I’m very happy to continue next year, together with Yamaha and Petronas.”

Valentino Rossi will continue with Petronas for 2021 at the age of 42, from then it remains to be seen, but rumours are that he will become a team manager and retire from racing.

Featured image – www.motogp.com