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Valentino Rossi is in line with the best … if you don’t count the Ducatis. On the first day, anyone who wasn’t astride one of the Reds tried to parry blows rather than land any and the Doctor was among the best in this endeavour. Along with Viñales, they are the only two who kept the gap behind Dovizioso to less than one second, numbers that explain just how much the D16 manages to make the difference on the Red Bull Ring asphalt.
“All told, I am happy - he assesses the first day – The conditions were difficult. Michelin brought better tyres than they had brought to the test, but the asphalt temperature was 30°C lower. I found that they provide more stability at high speeds, but today deterioration was significant, partly due to the cold that made them slide.”
You were 4th in both FP1 and FP2 …
“I was able to maintain a good pace and in the afternoon Viñales was ahead of me by very little. We need to keep working. Against the two official Ducatis it will be hard, but Lorenzo and Marquez are also competitive. In the second session they did not put on the soft tyre at the end.”
Are the Ducatis really unbeatable?
“It’s difficult to know that now. All I can do is give it my all and sort out all the details, although we can’t go any faster in the straights. It’s only Friday and the race is always different. A lot will depend on whether I will be able to at least stay in the slipstream behind the Ducatis on the straights. Today I tried but I wasn’t able. Maybe in the race they will have to decrease power because of fuel consumption.”
How can you improve your M1?
“There are plenty of areas to work on: speed in the corners, weight distribution, acceleration, braking, but we can do very little about the straights. Right now, the Ducatis seem uncatchable. Maybe the extra power will stress the tyres, but we’ll only find that out in the race.”
What is this reason for this superiority?
“The Ducati is not only powerful, but more importantly, it wheelies less and that allows it to be very fast in acceleration.”
A serious problem…
“For me, Marquez and Lorenzo are more important than the Ducatis, but I don’t want to start aiming to finish 3rd.”
A possible strategy?
“The qualifiers will be important, because starting well will be crucial. Sticking with the Ducatis, even if just for a few laps, could be the right move to break away from the rivals.”
How did turn 10 seem to you after the changes?
“There is not a big difference, but now it is safer. It is also tighter and easier to run outside the kerb. They told us that Race Direction will be very strict about that. In practice that just means losing the lap, but I don’t know what will happen in the race. It will be a surprise (he laughs).”
