Throughout his MotoGP career, Valentino Rossi has always been accompanied by one of his closest friends, Uccio Salucci – who also gave him support and is now one of the directors at VR46 Racing Team. However, being alongside a legendary rider didn’t only bring advantages to Salucci.
The VR46 director shared with Sky Sport Italia how he used to deal with the criticism towards him: ‘I never took it well; it bothered me. But then, as I grew up, around 23/24 years old, I asked myself if I was doing something wrong. I answered myself that, instead, I was just honestly doing my part for Vale and his sport. So, I managed to think with my own head and continued to do my job’.
What particularly wore Salucci down was being labeled a «parasite», as he confessed: ‘As I was with Valentino, I became more famous. I got annoyed because several people said: «Parasite». But the others were assistants. Why couldn’t I be one too? No, I was a…’.