Rossi: Munoz 'new generation' of chief mechanic

Valentino Rossi has denied that a lack of morale on his side of the factory Yamaha garage was behind a change of crew chief for the 2020 MotoGP season.

Instead, Rossi explained that 'the bigger problem is the results'.

Having taken 115 grands prix victories, a record 89 of them in the premier-class, Rossi knows that winning changes everything.

But the Doctor hasn't taken a race victory since Assen 2017 and by the end of this season had gone 16 races without even standing on the podium.

"For me, the morale was…. So, the bigger problem is the results," Rossi said.

"In our sport, like in the rest of life, if you have a good result, everything is good. But if you suffer, everything becomes more difficult.

"But the guys [in the team] are happy."

A shake-up for next year sees Rossi swap experienced crew chief Silvano Galbusera (who replaced Jerry Burgess in 2014) for MotoGP 'rookie' David Munoz, who impressed Rossi as part of his VR46 Moto2 team.

"David is a young chief mechanic so it's very interesting also for me. It's like the 'new generation' of chief mechanic. This is good. I like it," Rossi said. "But we need time, and especially he needs time to understand me and learn more the M1.

"But I think if we are strong and competitive, morale is not a problem!"

Establishing a working relationship with Munoz was one of Rossi's top priorities for the pair of post-season tests, at Valencia and Jerez.

"For us, my team, these two tests were important, especially for two things. The first is David, the new chief mechanic and the way to work with him. Because the work in the box has changed a little bit and under this point of view we are all very happy. We need time, he needs time, but we have a good feeling.

"And the other important thing is the new bike. The feeling with the new bike is quite positive, under some points of view the bike has improved, but the bike still has some problems and also we need to make a bigger step. So we are not so bad with the new bike, but we still have some work."

Since concluding the MotoGP tests, Rossi has been on track in a Mercedes F1 car and taken a podium finish alongside brother Luca Marini and friend Uccio in the Gulf 12 Hours sports car race.

Rossi and Munoz will start their 2020 MotoGP activities at the Sepang test in February, just before Rossi's 41st birthday.