Forcada has been a crew chief at the factory Yamaha team since Jorge Lorenzo's arrival in 2008, joining forces with Vinales when triple MotoGP champion Lorenzo switched to Ducati at the start of 2017.

Vinales and Forcada won three of their first five races together, but haven't taken a victory since. Meanwhile Yamaha has been winless since Rossi's triumph at Assen last year.

Jerry Burgess was Rossi's crew chief from his 2000 premier-class debut until replacing the Australian with Silvano Galbusera (whom he had briefly worked with when evaluating his return from a broken leg in 2010) at the end of 2013.