At the end of this interim day of MotoGP testing in Qatar, it was simply impossible to understand what was happening in the official Monster Yamaha MotoGP box.
On the one hand, Maverick Vinales finished the session in 2nd position, only 57/1000 behind the fastest, but on the other Valentino Rossi appeared in 19th place, more than a second behind his teammate and without ever having been at the front despite 51 laps completed.
Enough to worry the Doctor who no longer seems to know which way to turn, barely more than two weeks before the first Grand Prix, especially since Fabio Quartararo's performance is very real ...
Valentino Rossi : “Viñales says it’s the best Yamaha he’s ever ridden? If he says it, I agree. I hope with all my heart that Maverick is right and I am wrong because I believe that right now we are not strong enough to go for victory. Maverick and Fabio were fast, me and Morbidelli were in more difficulty. I was too slow, I can't be happy. Yesterday we worked on a basic setting, and today we worked on the settings, weight distribution and electronics, but we were unable to resolve the problem. I had more difficulty, especially with the rear grip. The bike slips a lot, and what's more, on this track, you suffer too much in the straight, much more than at Sepang. The fact is that it is 10 km/h less than the Ducati and the Honda. So it makes sense that I would be worried. For now, I cannot say whether we will be able to change the situation tomorrow. When you find yourself so far behind, you can't help but be worried, that's normal. Unfortunately it was a difficult day, we worked a lot but we found nothing. It's a shame, because we tried some important things and we hoped to improve, but I never had any grip at the rear, while I was happy with the front. Acceleration out of the corner still leaves a lot to be desired. Race pace? We are missing a few tenths compared to the 4 or 5 who are running well. At the end of the day, I fitted a soft tire but I didn't give it my all, because I knew that I wouldn't be fast anyway. Tomorrow we will try to follow other directions, to be more competitive.”
MotoGP, Qatar J2 Test: times
| 1 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:54.593 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.650 | 0.057 | 0.057 |
| 3 | 20 | fabio quartararo | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.908 | 0.315 | 0.258 |
| 4 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP19 | 1:54.953 | 0.360 | 0.045 |
| 5 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda RC213V | 1:55.004 | 0.411 | 0.051 |
| 6 | 41 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:55.173 | 0.580 | 0.169 |
| 7 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda RC213V | 1:55.175 | 0.582 | 0.002 |
| 8 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP19 | 1:55.205 | 0.612 | 0.030 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:55.247 | 0.654 | 0.042 |
| 10 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM RC16 | 1:55.255 | 0.662 | 0.008 |
| 11 | 36 | Joan mir | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:55.280 | 0.687 | 0.025 |
| 12 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati GP19 | 1:55.380 | 0.787 | 0.100 |
| 13 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.556 | 0.963 | 0.176 |
| 14 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati GP18 | 1:55.661 | 1.068 | 0.105 |
| 15 | 63 | Francis Bagnaia | Ducati GP18 | 1:55.680 | 1.087 | 0.019 |
| 16 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:55.698 | 1.105 | 0.018 |
| 17 | 5 | Johann zarco | KTM RC16 | 1:55.716 | 1.123 | 0.018 |
| 18 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda RC213V | 1:55.742 | 1.149 | 0.026 |
| 19 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.795 | 1.202 | 0.053 |
| 20 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati GP18 | 1:55.951 | 1.358 | 0.156 |
| 21 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM RC16 | 1:56.274 | 1.681 | 0.323 |
| 22 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:56.866 | 2.273 | 0.592 |
| 23 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM RC16 | 1:56.983 | 2.390 | 0.117 |
