By reading our columns regularly, you already know most of what happened today, concerning MotoGP news in general and that of Valentino Rossi in particular.
But as you can see on a daily basis, we make it our duty, as often as possible, to produce “real exclusive material” rather than basing our activity on a single, always approximate translation of articles from the foreign press.
It is with this in mind that we very regularly offer you scoops, interviews, technical articles and full reports of pilot declarations.
And it is of course in this last category, sometimes comprehensive, sometimes more concise, that our complete and exclusive series of debriefings appears. “raw and hot” de Valentino Rossi with, today, his statements after the Spanish Grand Prix, delivered in English in the hospitality of the Movistar Yamaha team.
Valentino Rossi: “A very, very difficult weekend and, for sure, it was a very difficult race. We didn't expect it. We expected to be stronger, to be more competitive, especially considering the results of the last few years here in Jerez. But we still struggled a lot with slippage when accelerating. This was the main problem throughout the weekend. For the race we tried to change the balance, primarily because we were worried about the lifespan of the medium rear tire. Because no matter what, the hard tire was impossible to use. We tried to skate less. But in the end, it was worse because I lost my feeling with the front. The race was also very difficult in terms of braking, entering corners, everywhere where I was better during practice. In the end, we didn't fix skating, and maybe we made it worse. At the end of the race, during the last six or seven laps, especially on the left side, I started to get a really big vibration and I started slowing down three seconds per lap. In the end, I was lucky to arrive.
It was a difficult weekend. We must try to understand. We have to make things better. Tomorrow we will have the test. Maybe there will be something interesting to try to understand, so we can be stronger and more competitive at Le Mans. »
Where did this rear tire degradation problem come from? Track or tire?
“Honestly, I can't talk about degradation problems because I've never had any grip. I also had a lot of slippage in qualifying with a softer tire, and the degradation usually happens after 10 laps, right? So I never had a good feeling on the bike all weekend. We tried different things but struggled all the time. For what ? I don't know. Now we will analyze the data. This track is usually one where you skate a lot, especially in recent years. But this time we struggled more. »
You modified the bike for the warm up, then you modified it again for the race…
“Yes, because… Now it’s easy to say we made a mistake. We took the risk, but as always, we had to try since I was ninth during the warm up. I thought that with these adjustments we could try to be a little better. But we had to try, to have a good race, not just to make it better. It did not work. During this weekend, it was as if our bike had always fought a lot with the tires. We never found the right grip. We always had a lot of skating. It makes everything more difficult. »
Are you going to return to last year's bike?
“Of course not!” No, because all the old motorcycles are already in the museum! (Laughs). Never. »
Do you think last year's bike was better here?
" Yes Yes Yes. For me this time the 2016 bike worked better. It's quite logical since last year we were very strong. I won, but Lorenzo was also fast.
At the start Zarco was very fast, he had a medium tyre, so maybe we expected him to struggle more towards the end, but in reality, no. But we continue with our motorcycle. »
If you were a journalist, would you write an article to say that Yamaha and Michelin have relaunched the championship?
“(Laughs). It's very interesting, if you look at the results, because we are four drivers in 10 points. You should not only consider today, but generally since the first race. In the first two races our bike performed very well and Vinales rode very well, and we put both bikes on the podium. In the next two, Honda did the same. I think this year will be like that. Each circuit is a new story. It's like a mini-championship, but we hope we can go faster at Le Mans. »
