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Valentino represents the other side of Yamaha right now, the wrong side. Because while Vinales basks in the glory of topping the latest Qatar tests, Rossi finds himself mid-way down the standings, unable to repeat yesterday's good performance.
The M1, a good friend for so long, has proved unruly in his hands and his 11th place is proof of this
“Today I struggled more and was slower, the setting that I used yesterday didn't allow me to be so fast. Track conditions were different, there was more sand”.
The Doctor looks for answers, but can't find them.
“In reality we haven't understood what we need to do to make the bike fast- he admits- Sometimes we do better, like yesterday, other days we struggle more, like today. We need to check the data, discuss it and try to understand how to proceed”.
In the meantime Maverick moves further ahead and Valentino is not looking for excuses.
“On my fast lap I came across Vinales, I passed him on the only lap in which he went slow- he jokes - Perhaps I could have been a couple of tenths quicker, but repeating yesterday's time would have been difficult”
Valentino didn't even attempt a race simulation.
“I knew I wasn't quick enough in terms of pace, i couldn't ride well - he explains - Vinales was fast, he probably has about 8 tenths on me. No, it was not a positive day”.
The problem is that this was the last winter test and time is short.
“I hope for something miraculous in the next two weekend, or I can say something else: we know exactly what we need to do but wanted to keep it hidden - he laughs - The truth is that the 2017 M1 is a different bike to the previous one and we haven't yet worked out how to get the best out of it”.
Rookie Folger also made an impression this week, with the old M1.
“In our tests with that bike we were worried about tyre degradation but Folger had very good pace with the 2016 bike. But we can't go back, there's no time”, the only certainty.
