Rossi: Quartararo, Vinales are strong… so the Yamaha is competitive 

VALENTINO ROSSI: says he can take some heart from the knowledge that the Yamaha M1 is a competitive package based on the success of both Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo but admits he has already tried many different things to improve his own speed.

Currently sixth in the MotoGP standings as the series resumes following its summer hiatus with the Czech Grand Prix at Brno, Rossi suffered three DNFs in the four races leading up to the break allowing the in-form Vinales to move ahead of him overall.

Indeed, with Rossi particularly struggling in qualifying – a fact brought into focus by the considerably stronger results enjoyed by Vinales and Petronas SRT rider Quartararo – he says he needs to find a better feeling with the M1 at the limit.

“The last races of the first part for us were very tough, very difficult,” he said. “We don’t have the result that we expected so we need to concentrate and work better and try to be stronger for this second part. 

“In the last races but already from Jerez Quartararo and Maverick were very strong, which means the bike is competitive. We need to find another way to find a good feeling with the bike to ride at the limit .

“I don’t know if it a problem of the approach, all I know is the problem of the last few races we don’t have enough speed. We tried different things but I wasn’t competitive. We need to try the right way to ride the bike and be stronger.”

Scene of his first GP win back in 1996 in the 125cc class, Brno has happy memories for Rossi but he is unsure of his competitiveness for this weekend.

“It is difficult to say in advance because the situation changes very much, also from one year to the other but usually the Yamaha is fast in Brno and last year for me was quite a good weekend because I started from the front row and in the race was not so bad. Unfortunately I don’t have enough speed to fight for the podium because the front three were faster than me. We need to see from tomorrow the right way to arrive with a good feeling and we will see.”