All four Yam🍒aha riders have featured on the MotoG𝓡P podium this season, with three of them winning races.

But with six rounds to go, a split in their chamꦑpionship fortunes is threatening to form.

Petronas rider Fabio Quartararo and the factory team's Maverick Vinales (-18 points) remain firm title contenders in first and third, but their respective team-mates Franco Morbidelli (-31) and Valentino Rossi (-50) are now in danger of losing t♎ouch in fifth and eleventh.

Should the current situation continue i෴nto the closing rounds, it's not hard to imagine Petronas asking Morbidelli to assist Quartararo's quest for a historic satellite title.

But despite doubting his own world cha🌳mpionship chances on th𝓀e A-Spec bike after Catalunya, Morbidelli made clear he wou🔜ld take some persuading🅠.

"I am not thinking about that," Morbidelli said at 🉐Le Mans on Thursday.

"First I’m still in play [for the title]. Second, the team didn’t ask anything. Thirdꦦ I think it goes against the nature of our sport.

"Because of thes💖e three reasons, I didn’t make any thought on this."

Rossi - who caused a stir when he battled hard with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo at Motegi in 2010, despite the Spaniard being yet to se♛cure the world title - said only: "About team orders, the problem is that Quartararo is not in my team! We will see!"

Yamaha isn't the only factory 𓃲facing t💜he possibility of team orders, the same will apply for any brand still in the title chase by the closing stages.

But no other manufacturer currently 🔯has such evenly matched riders, competing 🍃with each other at the front of the field, including the perfect M1 top-four seen in qualifying at Misano and the Yamaha 1-2-3 for much of the recent Catalunya race.

'As long as I have a bike that I can ride'

Whatever the title outcome this season, Rossi and Morbidelli will be team-mates at Petronas next year, with Quartararo joining Vinales at the factory tea♐m.

But while Morbidelli has a new two-year contract with the Sepang squad, Rossi only received a one-yeඣar contract extension from Yamaha, which will place him at their satellite team.

Yamaha's Lin Jarvis explained they couldn't offer Ross𝔍i more than one season at this stage, since the factory's current agreement with Petronas expires at the end of 2021.

But if that's the case, what does the second year of Morbidelli's future contract contain🐬? Is it only to ride for the Sepang team, thus leaving the door open to a possible change of machinery?

"I really don’t know. I don’t care too muc𒉰h about contracts and deals," Morbidelli replied. "As long as I have a bike that I can ride, and a team I can work with. I really don’t know.

"It 🎃was the first time I hear something like this [Jarvis explaining 2022 Petronas-Yamaha situationꦡ in Barcelona]. Usually, I just ask for the technical situation of next year and that’s it."

It is thought that, although announced as a two-year deal, Morbidelli's agreement 🌱is closer to a 1+1, meaning there are options and clauses in place for the second year, which wo🅷uld almost certainly include the choice of machinery.

Given the Sepang team's success since joini🍷ng Mot🐼oGP in 2019, continuing the Yamaha partnership beyond 2021 makes sense for both parties.

Nonetheless, there are rumours of interest in Petronas from Suzuki (168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:although the factory nowꦛ seems close to Gresini), plus the possibility of VR46 arriving in MotoGP in ༒2022. If that happens, would Ya𒈔maha really allow Rossi's team to be associated with another brand?

"What can I say? I don’t trust too much the rumours," Morbidelli said of the Petronas Suzuki&n💝bsp;gossꦑip.

But you trust in the team?

"Exactly," he added.

A possible solution for Ya💞maha to keep Petronas and ▨also bring VR46 on-board, without supplying more than four MotoGP bikes, would be for one of them to become the official Yamaha team.