Just a few days ago it seemed as though silly season had settled down and the only change we'd see was Casey replaced by Repsol golden boy Marc Marquez. Then Spies announced he would be leaving Yamaha at the end of the season. Spies cited a "litany" of reasons for his departure from Yamaha and had previous tweeted about ending up "back where w(h)ere we are meant to be!" all of this sparking a storm of discussions about the subsequent changes in rider line ups for the 2013 season.
As always, the main subject of conversation was Valentino Rossi. For months rumors have floated around about the return of the 'G.O.A.T' to the Yamaha factory squad, that had for years helped him to accomplish greatness. At current Yamaha doesn't have the budget to pay both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi and as such it seems that Rossi would have to bring a large, probably title, sponsor with him. For this there have been two main candidates, the first is Marlboro who currently sponsor the Ducati Corse team. This seems to be the least likely as sponsoring two factory teams is a stretch even for a company like Philip-Morris, especially considering they can't be named or shown on the bike itself. If Marlboro were to back Rossi completely then Ducati, even with support from Audi, would be left without enough money to compete in GPs, meaning that there would be 8 prototype bikes on the grid, four from Yamaha and four from Honda. If this scenario were to happen it would surely result in the death of GP as we know it, something the fans and Dorna don't want to happen. It's for this reason that the Marlboro sponsored Rossi seems unlikely.
A more likely possibility is that Monster will switch from supporting the satellite Tech 3 team and sponsorship the factory team, and pay much of Valentino's salary. Monster already pay Rossi a hefty sum as their logo not only features at the front of his hat, but also on the hat of the cartoon version of himself that adorns his Ducati and various other merchandise. Monster would most likely continue their sponsorship of Tech 3, although in a slightly reduced manor, as young Brit Bradley Smith is also sponsored by the energy drink giant and has a 'contract' to ride in the Tech 3 squad next year.
The only slight conflict if Monster were to become the primary Yamaha sponsor would be that of Jorge's Rockstar sponsorship. Rockstar would likely bow out and find another rider to sponsor as Rockstar's reported net income last year was $48 Million, compared to Monster's $286.2 Million.
There are many permutations of Monster sponsoring Rossi and/or Yamaha, but this seems far more likely than the sponsorship of Marlboro. Despite the likelihood of this anything could still happen. Yamaha don't need Rossi to win another title, they have Jorge, and as such may take a cheaper Italian such as Andrea Dovizioso, who has shown excellent form on the Tech 3 bike, to fill the second seat. Or they could choose British fan favourite Cal Crutchlow who was meant to have a Ducati contract signed by Mugello. The Italian press is flooded with 'news' of 'deals' between Rossi and Yamaha and Ben's step away from the factory team seems to support this, but as with all things in silly season it is impossible to know what will happen. In all likelihood there are probably only 10 people who know for sure who will be taking the Yamaha seat next season, and none of them are about to talk before an official press release.
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