Valentino Rossi sheds light on how life has changed after MotoGP

Nine-times motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi is almost three years on from his retirement from MotoGP, and although he remains involved in racing he says there have been changes to his life since stepping back from the top level of motorcycle racing.

Rossi raced in Grands Prix from 1996 until 2021 in a 26-season career that saw him pick up 115 race wins, 235 podiums, and nine world titles. At the end of 2021, he stepped away to pursue a career in car racing, having decided he was no longer able to challenge for podiums and wins in MotoGP.

In the three years since, Rossi has won two races in the GT World Challenge Europe series, become a factory BMW GT3 driver, finished on the podium in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and led the LMGT3 class at Le Mans.

At the same time, his VR46 Riders Academy has won its first and second MotoGP titles with Francesco Bagnaia; and his VR46 Racing Team has won three premier class Grands Prix, all courtesy of Marco Bezzecchi, one MotoGP Sprint, also courtesy of Bezzecchi, and has recently been named the official Ducati satellite team in MotoGP from 2025, with Fabio Di Giannantonio set to race a factory-spec Desmosedici GP25 for the setup.

He also became a father for the first time two years ago, and he and his partner Francesca are expecting their second child.

Although Rossi clearly remains very much involved in racing, the now 45-year-old Italian insists his life has changed compared to his days of racing at the highest level of motorcycle competition.

“When I stopped with the MotoGP, [the mentality] changed a bit,” Rossi told TNT Sports. 

“You have less pressure, and you start to understand some things in a different way compared to when you are a rider.

“Because when you are a rider you are always very concentrated in a kind of ‘bubble’, and the rest you understand a little bit less because you are always very focused on the races.

“The life is always for that. You have other things to do, for sure, [but] you’re always there, you’re always in the machine to try to understand how to go faster and everything.”

Having retired from MotoGP in November 2021, a substantial amount of time now separates Rossi from his GP career.

“Now, I’m more relaxed,” he said, “[but] apart from that, [the life] doesn’t change a lot: I have a lot of things to do, because we work very hard for the team, for example, and also with the academy, to try to give the good help to all our riders.”

Aside from being more relaxed, Rossi says the major change between now and 2021 is that he works more.

“And I work, I work more. When I was a rider I worked less — now there’s a lot of time in the office, and a lot of things to do.”