Rossi's 2001 Honda

When Rossi won his first championship he wasn't riding for the factory team, but from what I understand it was a factory supported bike. Similar to the deal Cal Crutchlow / Petrucci currently have. Can anyone shed additional light on this? We're factory rides back then less of an advantage / was winning the championship on a satalite a common occurrence?
Submitted July 19, 2018 at 07:26PM by realTimeBandit https://www.reddit.com/r/motogp/comments/908etl/rossis_2001_honda/?utm_source=ifttt