Some people have said that Valentino Rossi sees his team, VR46, mostly as a business. They point out that he didn’t show up for the team’s bike launch this winter and hasn’t been very involved lately. Some people even go so far as to say the team feels like an afterthought to him.

Yet, things may be changing. Rossi made an appearance at the Qatar Grand Prix, which made VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio very happy. He also attended the Jerez round a few weeks later. These appearances suggest that Rossi may be reconnecting with the team.

And of course, Rossi is still racing himself—just not on bikes. Since he left MotoGP, he has been competing in GT and endurance car races, staying active and competitive in motorsport.

In a recent interview on the PoretCast podcast, Rossi shared how strange and stressful it feels to watch races from the sidelines. Even though he won seven world championships, he says he gets extremely nervous when watching his brother Luca Marini and his academy riders Francesco Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli compete.

“When you’re racing, you leave home with your mind focused on the weekend,” Rossi said. “Right before the race, the nerves hit hard. You’re afraid of messing up—of crashing, of getting hurt, of losing everything.”

“But once you’re in the garage and ready to ride, the fear goes away. You’re in the zone.”

However, watching from outside the track is a different story. “Now, when I’m just watching, it’s much worse,” he admitted. “I’m always tense. My brother is racing, and I have friends out there too. I really suffer emotionally.”

Yet Rossi still finds joy in cheering them on: “It’s beautiful,” Rossi said. “It makes me feel younger. I enjoy supporting Pecco (Bagnaia) and Franco (Morbidelli). I liked watching them even when they were in Moto3 and Moto2. It’s more fun when they’re racing. If they’re not, I still watch—but it’s not the same.”

So even though he’s a retired MotoGP rider, he keeps his competitive spirit alive by racing cars. But when he talks about MotoGP, you can still see how much passion he has for it.