After the Qatar Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi, who is now used to some people considering him too old as soon as he no longer achieves results, wanted to send them a little personal message...
Valentino Rossi at the microphone of Sky Sports MotoGP to comment on his unexpected third place: “we made the difference with the way we worked, my team and Yamaha. Since November, we have been struggling to ride the bike but I have never seen a drop in confidence around me. This helped me a lot. I suffered so much. We did a great job, we tried four different settings and I started with a bike that I didn't know for racing. I was better with lower temperatures, while with higher temperatures I was deteriorating the tires after a few laps. This is a very important podium. This is a great way to start the season.
The weekend is important from a technical point of view. I feel more forward. We solved the problems, whereas in winter we did not succeed. At the end of the day, we have a racing motorcycle and I'm a racing driver. During the tests, I went slowly so as not to be tired at the end of the season, it was a strategy (laughs). When I don't get results for two or three months, people start to say that I'm old, so I thank everyone who works with me, because they always support me. I dedicate this podium to them. I was suffering with the front tire during testing, but on Friday we found a good setting to resolve the problems. The rubber is too soft for my taste, I couldn't attack because otherwise I would have slipped.”
Valentino Rossi hopes for a slightly harder tire for Argentina…