Jorge Viegas hints that 11-win MotoGP rider has missed his chance to become the next Valentino Rossi

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Valentino Rossi retired from MotoGP at the end of 2021. But nearly four years on, it still doesn’t feel as if the series has fully come to terms with his departure.

Rossi has been called the ‘Michael Jordan of motorcycles’ and is one of the few riders in the modern age widely known outside the motorsport world. He won seven titles in the premier class, taking a record 89 Grand Prix victories and 199 podiums.

The Doctor is still involved in MotoGP through his eponymous VR46 team. Rossi views VR46 as a business, hence his limited involvement.

There’s talk that Rossi could attend the Grand Prix of Qatar next week, which riders like Fabio di Giannantonio and Francesco Bagnaia would welcome. He’s watching his old nemesis Marc Marquez try and equal his championship haul.

Rossi’s camp fear Marquez will beat his records before he retires. However, FIM president Jorge Viegas says the Spaniard hasn’t quite matched his ‘charisma’.

Jorge Vears fears that Fabio Quartararo’s results may have dented his fame

Viegas, a former motorcycle racer himself, was speaking on the LS2 Europe YouTube channel. Along with KTM’s Pedro Acosta, he says Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo has conjured memories of Rossi at times.

Quartararo graduated to the premier class in 2019 and won the Rookie of the Year award after notching six pole positions and seven podiums. His first victories arrived in 2020.

The following year, El Diablo became world champion following his promotion to the Yamaha factory squad, edging Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. He looked set to go back-to-back in 2022 before Bagnaia mounted a remarkable comeback.

Yamaha have since declined, with Quartararo dropping to 10th in the standings in 2023 and enduring his first podium-less season in 2024. Viegas says riders need to be successful, as well as magnetic, if they want to become the next Rossi.

“I remember Valentino,” he said. “With Valentino it was absolutely amazing. Wherever he was, there was a crowd wanting to touch him, to hug him, to see him. He’s someone who always created a kind of protection around him, which is absolutely normal because the fame and the charisma of Valentino is something that nobody could approach yet.

“I think Marc Marquez is going for this kind of charisma, Quartararo could be when he was world champion – he was creating it. We had not so many stars that could be known outside our world, like Agostini.

“Giacomo was and is someone that was known outside this world. Maybe Mike Hailwood, Barry Sheene and Rossi.

“The last one I saw with this capability was Pedro Acosta. He is someone that can interact with the public in a special manner, like Fabio Quartararo – they are the two most charismatic.

“But then it depends on your evolution. If you go inside yourself and you don’t care about the spectators, you’ll never get there. But if you really interact with the spectators and you have charisma, you can be a big star.

“But of course, then you need to win races. If you are 10th, 12th, people don’t look at you. It’s only the winners that matter.”

Fabio Quartararo showed his class in conversation with struggling MotoGP rider

Yamaha have shown some signs of life in the early part of 2025. Quartararo was sixth in the Americas Grand Prix Sprint last weekend, and he also qualified seventh in Argentina.

He’s only put 16 points on the board thus far, but there’s reason to be optimistic that he can end his top-three drought later in the year. Quartararo wants more from Yamaha, but that’s natural for a rider who previously won the title.

He’s chosen to stay put even with Ducati and their satellite teams monopolising the top positions at most races. Quartararo would face a huge paycut if he left Yamaha, with his contract reflecting his status as the franchise rider.

The 25-year-old is an immensely respected figure within the MotoGP paddock. The classy Quartararo had ‘lovely words’ for the struggling Somkiat Chantra in Argentina, so it’s clear why he’s one of the sport’s poster boys.