MotoGP, Rossi: the wrong path, wasted work

On the day of his 38th birthday, there were no happy surprises for Valentino in terms of the standings. While yesterday he suffered in the morning before getting it together in the afternoon, today was the opposite. The steps made with the M1 proved to be the wrong ones and the stopwatch proves this.

Closing eighth, 8 tenths from his team-mate, is not a result he can be pleased with. “Even being here at Phillip Island with good weather, riding the M1 all day, though difficult, is a gift in itself”, says Rossi, philosophically.

What happened today?
“I struggled more than yesterday, particularly this afternoon. This morning didn't go too badly, in fact I felt better than yesterday and had quite good pace. I thought I could easily improve but then we made some significant changes to the bike and I didn't feel comfortable. I tried to make a long run but I wasn't fast enough, I suffered”.

What were you trying to do?
“To improve our pace, especially with used tyres but I was bothered by the wind and wasn't quick. This afternoon's work was a waste of time really".

Do you already have a plan to remedy this?
“Tomorrow we need to take a new direction, because this afternoon I wasn't very competitive. The aims are to improve the flying lap time and also complete a long run to better understand my pace”

You didn't use the new fairing today, why was that?
“I prefer the old one at this track, it's a unique circuit, fast with a lot of wind and I get on better with the standard fairing. I think that the fairing will become part of the setup: the new one will be good at certain track, while the standard is better at others”.

Do you have clear ideas about the frame?
“I prefer the new one, I'll make more comparisons tomorrow maybe”.

Vinales is still out front, are you getting worried?
“Maverick is very fast, he has been right from the start with the Yamaha, he feels good on the M1. It will definitely be tough to beat him, but it was also tough with Lorenzo in recent years”.

You followed him for a few laps today, will that be a useful strategy in the future?
“Why not? (he laughs). Everyone's uptight when others follow them, but there will be times during the season when one of us is quicker than the other and we could help each other”.