Valentino Rossi during the live streamed driver interviews at the Misano press conference. Only the colors and the team will change for the old champion, but of course he will continue to contest his possibly last season on the Yamaha M1 (© MotoGP).

Without a live audience – this year’s team presentations

We like to admit that, like Dovi, we’re not very fond of press conferences and similar events. As a rule, almost everyone tells the same thing and, in principle, nothing is really exciting. We find it all the more exciting as soon as something happens on the track, but preferably on the race weekends. Test drives were and are too often misinterpreted. At least there is something amusing about this, because many people are very often completely wrong, especially some reporters. In any case, we think it makes little sense this season to reproduce the team presentations with tons of pictures on our site. Should one of the teams surprise with the goal that they don’t want to win, we will keep our readers informed.

Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha) ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) – by far the most important transfer in terms of importance for the fans and historical aspects. After all, this will make the old champion an official “private driver” for the first time since he has competed in the premier class (© MotoGP).

Almost everything happens on the Internet – with no surprises

Except for the fact that Rossi could suddenly appear in the interview after a race after a 4th or 5th place despite missing the podium, very little changes for 2021. Technically, the further engine development remained frozen due to the corona pandemic and the Michelin tires remain the same. That’s a good thing because last year the chances at the beginning of the season were very differently distributed. See KTM’s test advantage from May while all other teams were locked down. As for the drivers, there won’t be any surprises, everything is known about this so far. Also, don’t count on Marc Marquez push-ups just to show how fit he is already. In any case, great for the fans: As a future private driver, an interview with Valentino Rossi will become a reality after the finish as soon as he becomes the best non-works driver.

Pol Espargaró in KTM leather on a Honda CBR-1000RR-R, in the middle of the 2020 season this was not a photo montage, but bitter reality from KTM’s point of view. The oranges are rid of the most famous riders and there was no production KTM at the Portimão test drives that was fast enough for that. This is how this picture was taken (© MotoGP).

The dates of the team launches

If you want to do one of the too often boring presentations on the Internet, the following overview will help:

February 9th: Ducati Team – Jack Miller & Pecco Bagnaia
Feb 12: Red Bull KTM & Tech3 – Petrux, Lecuona, Binder & Oliveira
Feb 15: Monster Energy Yamaha – Maverick Viñales & Fabio Quartararo
– in addition: Petronas Yamaha SRT: Franco Morbidelli & Valentino Rossi
Feb 19: LCR Honda Castrol – Alex Marquez
Feb 20: LCR Honda Idemitsu – Takaaki Nakagami
Feb 22: Repsol Honda – Pol Espargaró & Marc Márquez
?: Pramac Ducati Racing: Johann Zarco & Jorge Martin

Johann Zarco (here still in the Esponsorama Ducati Box) – for the fast Frenchman, the current Ducati at Pramac could go steeply upwards, we count him among the absolute secret favorites for the coming season (© MotoGP).

Already presented – Reale Avintia Ducati on February 5th

Group picture with mask, outside the two Ducati Zampanos and next to Gigi dall’Igna on the left Luca Marini and on the right with Davide Tardozzi Enea Bastianini, who by the way will compete with the starting number 23 because the 33 is already occupied by Binder (© Reale Avintia).

Revised provisional calendar

This is the second version from January 22nd, with a few changes, as can be expected due to the corona pandemic.