MotoGP's War of Words

Valentino Rossi's scathing assessment of Marc Marquez's actions at the Australian Grand Prix one week ago have caused a real stir in the MotoGP paddock. The Italian made comment of the fact that he thought Marquez deliberately dropped his pace during certain phases of the twenty-seven-lap Phillip Island race in order to get himself involved in a scrap with Rossi and lose him time to Jorge Lorenzo.

At first we thought that this was a bit of a joke, just the Italian trying to cause a bit of a storm in a teacup. But following the pre-event press conference, Rossi was more like a bull in a china shop. Whilst the rest of the world's press were talking to the Spaniard, Rossi assembled the Italian media to launch an all-out assault on Marquez, even producing lap charts from Australia to justify his hypothesis.

What ensued was a real nasty set of comments, stating that Marquez was “acting like a child” and questioning the young Spaniard's childhood admiration of the Italian. Rossi stated, “Is it true he's been my fan? It is true that he had a poster with me in his bedroom? I would like to check.”

So where has this all come from and would Marc really do something like that?

If he was to really interfere with the world championship outcome, then he does have motive. Rossi claims that this recent 'foul play' from the Spaniard stems from their on-track collisions in Assen and Argentina, both races Marquez felt he should have won. And it is true that he was not happy about these incidents, in particular the former of the two. Argentina was very much a racing incident, but one that had a big bearing on Marc's title challenge. But his tendency to push the unwieldy RC213V beyond its limits unravelled his 2015 season for him, so Argentina is really a moot point in the grand scheme of things.

It's not at all out with the realms of possibility that this is solely because of the final corner collision at Assen, and that Marquez wants to deny Rossi a title the same way he feels Rossi denied him that win. If this was the case then I'd be very surprised because that incident was Marc's fault. So I'm not really buying into Rossi's conspiracy theory here.

He's not the only one in recent times that feels someone is out to get him; Danny Kent pinned the blame on his accidents at Phillip Island on an Italian coup to help Enea Bastianini close the points gap. If that was the case, they did a piss poor job of it because Kent's contact with Niccolo Antonelli actually brought Bastianini down too. Again, I can see where it's coming from because it's not the first time in sport that this kind of thing has happened and certainly won't be the last.

So is all of this just out of nerves and tension getting the better of the Italian?

Well, yes, quite possibly. Valentino is thirty-six years old and is very much in the twilight years of his career. He knows that, with the sheer level of talent needed to ride at the front increasing year on year, that this could well be his final chance to seal his status as the Greatest of all Time. Generally, Lorenzo has been quicker than him at most circuits this year and with Valencia on the horizon, a track which Valentino hates, having the championship drag on may not be to his liking or benefit.

And with a championship on the line things change. It's getting to crunch time, something Valentino hasn't experienced for a long time. With the speed of his team-mate always a concern, as well as that of the Hondas it's no wonder he is feeling the strain. I chock those aforementioned comments made by Kent up to this reason, the same way I did the same for Lorenzo's comments about Andrea Iannone following him around in qualifying last week. This championship is balancing on a knife edge and not even the steeliest of individuals is immune to pressure.

So Rossi makes some shit stirring comments, out of nerves, to rial up Marquez and get him to prove on Sunday that he isn't helping Lorenzo by taking points away from him and winning the race.

On the other hand, he's trying to wind up Marquez but not because he is nervous. Rossi is the master of the mind games – everyone remembers him stating that, following the whole Qatar debacle of 2004, Sete Gibernau would never win a race again. Gibernau never did. This psychological warfare has been in play with Rossi for years, as Max Biaggi and Jorge can attest to.

This is the view of some, including myself, that this is nothing more than a tactic. The fact that he came into the press conference armed with a lap analysis sheet suggests that this stunt was calculated.

If he was trying to fuel a fire, then it doesn't appear to have worked. Marquez has since expressed his opinion on the matter, stating that he was surprised but hasn't and never will lose respect for Rossi. What struck me most was that the Spaniard offered an understanding to the situation, exclaiming that he knows a championship is on the line and that it could be Rossi's last.

Lorenzo's observations were more blunt, stating that he thinks that this is indeed a tactic but that Rossi is only doing this because he isn't fast enough. I imagine the Movistar Yamaha box tomorrow will be a little frosty.

Really, we'll probably never know the reason behind Valentino's comments and that's fine because I'm not sure I really want to find out the truth. Incidents like this are nothing new, especially with Rossi, but the manner of which this one was conducted has left a bitter taste in my mouth. This is an all together darker side of Valentino that isn't pleasant to watch.

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