As expected, Rossi has confirmed that he will be going back to Yamaha next season to partner Jorge Lorenzo. While some held out hope that Audi coming on board would keep Rossi with Ducati, it seems that he has chosen to go back to a bike he knows can win races immediately rather than potentially develop into a winner. It is expected that Rossi's crew will also move back to Yamaha with him.
So where does this leave us in the game of musical chairs?
Confirmed:
-Repsol Honda - Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez
-Factory Yamaha - Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi
-Tech 3 Yamaha - Bradley Smith
-Ducati Corse - Nicky Hayden
-LCR Honda - Stefan Bradl
Yet to be confirmed
-Cal Crutchlow
-Andrea Dovisioso
-Alvaro Bautista
-Ben Spies
If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago I would have said that under the Rossi to Yamaha scenario, Cal Crutchlow was the firm favourite to go to Ducati. Crutchlow has been very public about a verbal offer made by the Italian factory but also the lack of paperwork that has come with it. There is increasing chatter that his Tech 3 team mate Dovisioso has jumped ahead of him in Ducati's preferences. Indeed, on twitter Cal, has responded to questions about what is going on with the comment that 'passports are getting guys jobs'. This may suggest that Dovi has leapfrogged him at Ducati and his best option bay be to stay at Tech 3. To be honest, the satellite Yamaha package is faster than the current factory Ducati package, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. However, Cal's belief that he needs a factory bike to win a championship is well founded, it's just that a factory Ducati is unlikely to be that bike.
Ben Spies is the other wildcard, with rumours of a move to BMW or Suzuki. Spies recently got a new tattoo, do you think it's a suzuki or BMW tattoo?
Silly season continues...
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