that Aramco's sponsorship might
not be forthcoming without his
gold-plated name as rider.
Baffling frustration in the
other. Vinales has been oscillat-
ing wildly between hero and zero
for race after race for a couple
of years now, and last place in
Germany (where weirdly he also
set the fastest race lap of any Ya-
maha rider) was the final straw.
His contract had been set to
last until the end of 2022, but his
patience had worn out. Doubt-
less the same was true from
Yamaha's side. In the famously
bland phrase, "by mutual agree-
ment," he's off, released, and
probably set to join Aprilia.
Just to make the whole thing
yet more confusing, the divorce
happened on the same weekend
that he set pole position and
finished second at Assen.
So, who gets the prize? The
holidaying world of online pad-
dock gossip is ripe with point-
less speculation. With Morbidelli
a shoo-in for the factory team,
will the Petronas squad promote
current Moto2 riders Jake Dixon
and Xavi Vierge? Neither has
T
antalizing prospect: two
seats up for grabs at Ya-
maha. It's not often such
an opportunity arises in MotoGP,
where riders tend to cling on to
what they've got, and factories
likewise. Contracts of up to four-
year stretches (Marc Marquez
and Brad Binder) bear witness.
It's come about through
natural wastage in one case. No
official confirmation yet, but it re-
ally looks as though Rossi finally
might accede to the passage of
time and make way for a younger
rider. Or (though he admits this
would be "very difficult") he
might be obliged to continue in
his own new VR46 team, rid-
ing a Ducati. The Arab prince
who fixed the sponsorship has
expressed enthusiasm for the
idea, and there are new rumors
P132
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
BLAZING
SADDLES?
"Your teammate's the first person
you have to beat," turned into,
"He's also the last person you have
to knock down."
