A broken crown in FP1, a wet track in FP2 and FP3, it didn't take much to force Valentino Rossi to go through a Q1 in which he was unable to contain Álvaro Bautista, Alex Rins and “even” Bradley Smith !
An exceptional situation, since we have to go back to the 2017 Catalan Grand Prix not to find the Italian driver on the first 4 rows of the starting grid of a Grand Prix.
The Doctor will start tomorrow from 14th position, his worst result since his 16th place on the grid for the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.
“Seven days after I left the front line in Brno”, commented the Italian.
This, combined with Maverick Vinales' also very poor results, forced the Yamaha staff to issue a public apology to its riders (see here), a truly extraordinary event when you know the Japanese mentality… but which is not the important point in the eyes of the man from Tavullia.
“I saw this apology in a very positive way and I thank Tsuya for making it, but rather than excuses, we need to improve our bike. We need results, and quickly, because we are behind Honda and Ducati.”
While waiting for an improvement in the electronic performance of the M1, Valentino Rossi knows that he will not be able to do much tomorrow during the Austrian Grand Prix, on a circuit more favorable to the Ducati and the Honda.
“It’s electronics. Honda and Ducati improved last year, while we stagnated. I would like to take a step forward, before the end of the season. I think the bike is a good bike, mechanically speaking, and if we could improve the electronics we would be on par with Honda and Ducati. Until 2015, when we used the software developed in-house, everything was fine. The problems started in 2016, with the arrival of the single ECU, I think our technicians are having difficulty interfacing with the Magneti Marelli software. Like I said, I've been telling the Japanese the same thing for a long time and a year later everything is the same. How long will it take for change to occur? I would like to answer this question, but it is not my place to do so. We will see.
Spielberg is probably the worst plot for us. We knew before the tests that we would suffer here. But I expected less suffering….. I also had bad luck, because in FP1 I had to stop with a defective sprocket, and the spare bike did not have the right settings. This is why I was only 11th in FP1, and why the sky then fell on our heads since there was no longer a dry track, neither in FP2 nor in FP3. It's a shame, I only missed 10th place by five thousandths.
Today we continued to work, we also tested a lot during FP3. My pace hasn't been fantastic. Overall, I was mediocre. I then had to take part in Q1, and unfortunately I didn't manage to do much with the soft rear tyre. I should have taken the medium like Dovi did in Q2. The soft rear tire is very difficult for us to manage, even for two laps. You feel the grip a little better, but this tire is too soft. With our bike, it was difficult to improve the time. That's why we didn't make it to Q2. Now I'm on the fifth line. It's very difficult and critical here, because the first three or four braking zones are tricky for all drivers. And when you're in the middle of the pack, you have to be careful.
We have to think of something else for Sunday. We are hoping for a dry race. We must do our best to accumulate valuable points and maintain second place against the Ducati riders.”
And when we point out that Johann zarco had fewer problems today...
“It depends on the track, a week ago we were on the front row and today we were in fifth. This track is critical for the rear tire and in these conditions Zarco benefits from his particular riding style and weight. In Brno, he was the one who got into trouble.”
Massimo Meregalli: “Today was a very complicated day to get things right, due to the big contrast between the morning and afternoon sessions. FP3 was wet, so it became clear early on that Vale would have to go to Q1, while Maverick would be promoted to Q2. The change in conditions in the afternoon forced us to try all our dry/wet settings in FP4. Dry qualifying did not go as planned. The drivers were not able to attack as they wanted, so the team will work hard to find a solution to the problems. The start of the race will be crucial, both drivers will need a good start from the fourth and fifth row to reach the front of the peloton from the start of the race. We will use the warm-up session to fine-tune the bikes for the race, regardless of the weather conditions, although we hope the day will be entirely dry or entirely wet. It has been a very dark weekend for us so far and we recognize our responsibility for not being able to provide the riders with a package that allows them to fight at the top, where they both deserve to be, but we will continue to to fight as a team, so that together we can overcome the struggles and technical problems that have prevented us until now.”
Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull Ring MotoGP J.2: times
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'23.241 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'23.243 | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'23.376 | 0.135 | 0.133 |
| 4 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'23.503 | 0.262 | 0.127 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'23.812 | 0.571 | 0.309 |
| 6 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'23.887 | 0.646 | 0.075 |
| 7 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'23.922 | 0.681 | 0.035 |
| 8 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'24.091 | 0.850 | 0.169 |
| 9 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'24.124 | 0.883 | 0.033 |
| 10 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'24.227 | 0.986 | 0.103 |
| 11 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'24.284 | 1.043 | 0.057 |
| 12 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'24.342 | 1.101 | 0.058 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'24.195 | ||
| Q2 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'24.230 | 0.035 | 0.035 |
| 13 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'24.245 | 0.050 | 0.015 |
| 14 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'24.309 | 0.114 | 0.064 |
| 15 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'24.762 | 0.567 | 0.453 |
| 16 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | 1'24.767 | 0.572 | 0.005 |
| 17 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'24.805 | 0.610 | 0.038 |
| 18 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'24.834 | 0.639 | 0.029 |
| 19 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | 1'24.868 | 0.673 | 0.034 |
| 20 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 1'25.067 | 0.872 | 0.199 |
| 21 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'25.178 | 0.983 | 0.111 |
| 22 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | 1'25.310 | 1.115 | 0.132 |
| 23 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'25.339 | 1.144 | 0.029 |
