MotoGP 2019. Valentino Rossi: We need more engine – MotoGP

SEPANG – All different Valentino Rossi, compared to the last GP. An excellent performance: in agreement, the team-mate won, but Valentino closed not far (5 "965), fighting for the podium with Andrea Dovizioso until the finish line. A nice improvement if compared to the opaque previous races.

"Yes, it was a good race compared to the previous ones. I tried every way to get on the podium: it would have had another taste, but unfortunately I didn't make it. But I was competitive, I did the fast lap, I enjoyed it. On the curve I was stronger than Dovizioso, but in acceleration he was too fast for me, I couldn't do anything.

He also braked hard, I could never get too close to him to pass him. And when I did it, he went over me in a straight line. Sin: between third and fourth the difference is large".

Why is Yamaha so competitive on this track?

"In the meantime, I'm happy to have gone strong here, because physically it is the toughest GP of the year. Here Yamaha is always good wave, because there are so many long corners. It is no coincidence that we can be very effective in qualifying, but in We suffer the most because we make the most of the time using the tire angle, which means we consume more rear end. In this respect, for me today it was better than usual, I could be constant until the end. if you can be alone, as Vinales has managed to do: if you can set your line, you are effective with Yamaha, but if you are in the midst of the others you work harder ".

According to Dovizioso, this year there is the biggest engine difference between Yamaha and Ducati.

"It is so. Unfortunately we have been coming for two years of great confusion and even at the end of last year Yamaha did not know which way to go. The consequence is that 2019 goes slower than 2020 and with Ducati there is a great difference. I know perfectly well that Yamaha will never go like a Ducati in a straight line, but we have to go back to the previous levels. "

Andrea said it's nice to fight with you because you're correct and intelligent; How is challenging, instead, Dovizioso?

"I also like to fight with Dovi, in some ways we are similar, we try to do the maximum but always respecting the adversary. Maybe even too much … Now the young are much more aggressive, they always come in anyway, while we try without try to annoy the other ".

If you could get over it right away, could you have left?

"I think I lost the podium at the first corner: I did not start badly, but the Ducati passed on the straight. Marquez came in, Petrucci went a bit wide and I was not able to attack Marquez: I think if I were he was with him, I could have kept his pace, he would have pulled me. Instead I lost positions, in the second corner I was ninth or tenth (ninth, NDA), then I recovered, but I should have passed Dovizioso immediately, but I didn't I made ".

How do you judge the victory of Vinales?

"I have a good relationship with him, he was good, always fast. It is an incentive to do well".

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