As usual, we offer you a translation of the full responses of the first three drivers during the post-GP press conference.
Writing a few introductory lines at this point would already direct the information in this or that direction; not doing so allows you to form your own opinion.
Good reading.
Jorge, you attacked at the start but couldn't take the lead. Are you disappointed?
“Yes, it's a bit of a shame not to have had a good start, because it was much better in the first three races. So I couldn't get into the lead, and when I tried to pass Valentino, I braked too hard and lost the front, so I couldn't be in first position for drive a little better during the first part of the race. Rossi is faster in the middle of the race and I couldn't avoid losing meter after meter. And the rear tire started to spin a little in a straight line. Then I started to quickly recover a few meters on Rossi when the rear tire started to spin a lot on the straights, right in the middle. This had never happened to me in MotoGP, so I had to slow down and put only 80% of the throttle in a straight line, in all gears, and I could no longer maintain the same dynamic to catch up and fight for the victory .
It's a shame, because it's difficult to have Marc who has more problems than us, whereas today we could have taken advantage of it to win the race.
But you know, if we look at the championship, Rossi crashed in Austin so he was behind, 12 points behind. Now he is at 7 points and I have recovered 4 points from Marc. So the result is good for the championship, but we had this rear tire problem on the straights.
I am also happy to have obtained my 100th podium in MotoGP. I'm proud of this statistic, because getting this with a lot of first and second places means I'm very consistent in this category, so I'm happy with this because only three drivers have done it before me in history. »
Between Friday and Saturday, you encountered problems…
“Okay, I just had a bad start. Being second, I certainly couldn't drive exactly like I was in the lead, so next race, if I'm on the front row, if I can stay in first position, I'll drive a little bit better. But I wasn't so comfortable today; with the high temperatures, with the front tire, the rear tire, I wasn't as fast as Rossi anyway, and when finally I was able to catch up with him, this thing happened with the tire, so...
Today it was mainly because of the rear tire that I couldn't have the chance to fight for victory when I got stronger at the end of the race. I hope we won't have any problems with the rear tire for the next races. I'm happy with the way it used to be, because it's now safer and much better. But after the problems of Baz and Redding, Michelin must use this experience to improve the rear now. »
Why does the Yamaha use its tires better?
“I think our bike adapts quite well to the Michelins. Honda seems to have some problems. Apart from Austin where Marc is very strong, and perhaps also in Argentina where he was very strong, normally, we are there. We are always in the first three positions during all the practice sessions. Maybe we were more competitive with the soft rear tire, but I'm sure that now Michelin will work on it to give all riders in the future a feeling similar to the one we had a few years ago. month. Then we might be able to have a bigger advantage. »
