Yamaha boss hails ‘amazing’ Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team boss Davide Brivio was full of praise for the Italian star after he clinched an eighth world title in Japan yesterday.

Rossi’s victory over Ducati rival Casey Stoner gave him an unassailable 92-point lead over the Aussie with only three races remaining.

Brivio, who was a major influence in persuading Rossi to quit Honda to sign for Yamaha at the end of 2003, said: “All of the time Valentino is able to surprise and he is amazing. What he can deliver on the track is always a surprise. This year was another demonstration of how strong Valentino is because he was talking a lot about Yamaha and Bridgestone.

“We were always very open and very correct in defining our problems with the bike needing to be a little bit faster and also we had problems with the tyres last year. In the total package the rider is also very important and Valentino worked very hard during the winter and he made a good development of his body as well.

“The full package was quite strong and we were very motivated at the beginning of the season. During the winter we kept saying how 2006 and 2007 had made everybody much stronger. I think the relationship between Yamaha and Valentino is much stronger together because when you go through difficult moments the relationship can get stronger. We didn’t want to be in that situation again and this was a strong motivation for this.”