This year, as far as possible, that is to say if the videoconference schedule allows it, we have decided to follow as closely as possible Valentino Rossi in his new adventure within the Petronas SRT team, as we were already doing for Johann Zarco (see here) et Fabio Quartararo (see here) in previous seasons.
Concretely, this should result in a maximum of debriefings reported in their entirety so that you can experience the thoughts of the pilot concerned as closely as possible, without any journalistic formatting, and therefore despite each person's own phrasing in a non-native language.
Here is what was said today in English during the Doctor's first official press conference as a prelude to the Doha Grand Prix...
Valentino Rossi : " Compared to the first race, we have to try to be stronger and faster, because I wasn't as fast as I wanted in the first race. We are trying to work, we have the data, and we will try to change something in the settings of the bike to improve the life and grip of the rear tire. And we'll see. We work hard, we analyze the data and we will try to improve. »
Did you look at the data to see how Maverick handled his tire last Sunday, and can you use that this weekend?
« It seems that Maverick has something different in the bike settings and electronics. They chose other settings but it's very difficult to put exactly the same thing because each driver has their own little differences. But during this weekend we will try to follow another direction to change something, and we hope that we will be stronger during the race. »
Are you using the new fairing which saves a little top speed?
« Yes ! During testing we used a new Yamaha fairing which is slightly different compared to last year. But the differences are not very big. I think it offers more protection and that's good for me because I'm quite tall, and I gain a few kilometers per hour on the straight with this fairing. So I think we will use it throughout the season. »
Is your general feeling better than your last results, three places of 12th?
« No ! As you say, since I came back last year after Covid, I have finished 3th 12 times (laughs) and of course those are not the results we want. Everything is difficult because there are many drivers who are very strong, but I think that is not our potential: We can be stronger, and that is the objective. But unfortunately, well, not unfortunately, it's the results that make the difference so we have to be stronger. »
You said you look at Viñales's data, but do you also look at Fabio's?
« I spoke with Fabio after the race and he had a similar problem to me. Compared to Maverick, Fabio is also different, so his data is definitely important to understand. I think he had a similar problem but anyway he was able to be stronger than me since in the end he finished P5. So we have to work from this point of view because I started to have a problem very early in the race: After only seven or eight laps I had a big problem and I had to slow down. So all the work will be focused from this point of view and we have to try to improve the life of the rear tire because I think we can go a lot faster than last Sunday. »
Yesterday we saw a video of you 25 years ago. You said that the drivers who finish ahead of you today would certainly have achieved 1 times more than you did at that time. Were you serious?
« When I was young, my approach was a little different from now. The young pilots had a lot more respect for the old pilots (laughs). But I think it's a general attitude in the world, not just in MotoGP. 25 years ago, when we were very young, we had to show a lot of respect to the older ones (laughs). Today, it's not exactly like that. At that time, I was riding with riders who had a lot of experience, like for example Kazuto Sakata, Ueda or de Radigues, and when I looked at them, they were like my heroes! For me, it was true but ultimately I am very happy with the number of my career podiums because it is a very good achievement (laughs). »
Happy 25th Anniversary @ValeYellow46! 😎
March 31st 1996 saw The Doctor make his debut, and he shares his early Grand Prix memories! 🏁#MotoGP pic.twitter.com/N8zXE39TDD
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) March 31, 2021
Last Sunday, you had to avoid a collision with Brad Binder. Do drivers ride differently when they are fighting for 10th position than when they are fighting for a podium?
« In my opinion it doesn't depend much on the position, but it depends a lot on the different drivers. There are a lot of riders who are clean and ride with a lot of respect for their opponents, and there are some other riders, like Binder, who ride a lot harder and don't care about their opponents. So if you try to close the line, they release the brake and if you don't move, they throw you off the track. But now it's like this. Respect is too strong a word, but it's hard to understand the limit, because usually in the past you would sometimes touch another rider, but you tried not to. Now some runners only think about their own race, not others. »
