Background and career
Valentino Rossi ( ROSS-ee; Italian: [valenˈtiːno ˈrossi]; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer, and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", he is widely considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time. Rossi is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix. Of Rossi's nine Grand Prix World Championships, seven were in the premier 500cc/MotoGP class. He holds the record for most premier class victories and podiums, with 89 victories and 199 podiums to his name.
Rossi's motorcycle racing career spanned the transition from the two-stroke era of the 1990s to the MotoGP four-stroke era of the 21st Century. After winning World Championships in the 125 and 250 classes, he won the final 500cc World Championship of the two-stroke era in 2001. Rossi won MotoGP World Championships with the factory Repsol Honda team in 2002 and 2003 and with Yamaha in 2004 and 2005. After two less successful seasons, he regained the title in 2008 and retained it in 2009. After a 2010 season marred by a broken leg and no title defense, he left Yamaha to join the Ducati factory team, but endured two winless seasons with the Italian marque. Having returned to Yamaha in 2013, Rossi took three successive runner-up positions in 2014, 2015, and 2016. His best chance of winning a tenth title came in 2015, where he led the standings for most of the season but finished five points behind team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, the eventual champion. 2017 was the final season in which he achieved over 200 championship points, and he won his final race victory in the 2017 Dutch TT at the age of 38. After three winless seasons with the Yamaha factory team, he moved to Petronas SRT for 2021, and retired at the season's conclusion.
The dominant force in MotoGP in the 2000s, all of Rossi's seven premier class titles came in this decade, including 77 race wins and 48 pole positions. In the next 12 seasons, he managed 12 race wins and seven pole positions. Rossi was inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame as an official Legend by the FIM after the conclusion of the 2021 season. His #46 bike number, with which he rode his entire career, was retired at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix. Rossi owns and manages the VR46 Racing Team, which competes in MotoGP as of 2025. In addition to his team management role, Rossi competes full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for Team WRT, in a BMW M4 GT3, which also bears the now iconic number 46.
Rossi was born in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, on 16 February 1979. While he was a child, his family moved to Tavullia. The son of former motorcycle racer Graziano Rossi, he began riding at a very young age. Rossi began with kart racing rather than minimoto racing due to his mother, Stefania's, concern for her son's safety. Rossi first rode a go-kart in 1985. In 1990, Rossi won the regional kart championship. In 1993, Rossi was given his first opportunity to ride a 125cc motorcycle by former world champion Paolo Pileri, who had become a team manager after retiring from competition. Later in 1993, Rossi competed in the 125 cc Italian Sport Production Championship on a Cagiva Mito alongside teammate Vittoriano Guareschi. At his first race meeting, he crashed twice, eventually finishing ninth.
The 1996 championship season saw the debut of Rossi, then 17, in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. He had some success in his first year, scoring consistent points in his races from Malaysia to Italy, retiring in both the French and Dutch rounds. He finished fifth in Germany, but suffered another retirement in the British round. At the 1996 Austrian Grand Prix, Rossi achieved his first ever podium by finishing in third place after battling with Jorge Martínez. In the following race, the 1996 Czech Republic Grand Prix, he achieved both his first ever pole position and his first ever race victory in the 125cc class. He rode an AGV Aprilia RS125R and won after another tussle with Jorge Martínez. Rossi earned points at Imola but was forced to retire in both the Catalan and Rio rounds. He then scored points in the final round in Australia, ultimately finishing his first season in ninth place with 111 points.
How Valentino Rossi makes money
Ultimately, Rossi signed a two-year contract with rivals Yamaha reportedly worth in excess of US$12 million; a price no other manufacturer, even Honda, was willing to pay. Reported earnings According to Sports Illustrated, Rossi is one of the highest-earning sports personalities in the world, having earned an estimated $34 million in 2007.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth, in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
