Rossi moved to MotoGP’s then premier class, 500cc in 2000 with Honda, maintaining his second season championship title streak by taking the 2001 title. He followed this up with the 2002 and 2003 titles for Honda in the now MotoGP class, before moving to Yamaha from 2004-2010, taking the title in 2004-5 and 2008-9.

A two-year duration at Ducati for 2011-12 didn’t deliver the desired results, so Rossi returned to Yamaha in 2013, remaining with the Japanese manufacturer ever since and finishing vice champion in 2014-16.

By the start of the 2021 season when he joined PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team, Rossi had a tally of 354 premier class starts, with 89 wins, 199 podiums, 55 poles, 76 fastest laps and an incredible 5371 points cementing for many his status as Greatest Of All Time.