After his fourth place in Thailand, the Japanese GP was the moment Valentino Rossi expected to see if the Yamaha M1 really improved in the last few weeks, after poor results in the middle of the season due to the lack of performance from the Japanese bike.
Rossi ended up, again, in fourth place in Motegi, but this result doesn’t seem to have a good meaning to the Italian rider.
According to Rossi, this is the best the Yamaha bike is able to get at the moment, and he only finished fourth because Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone crashed while riding in front of him. For Rossi, worse than seeing that Yamaha isn’t able to improve the bike, it’s the distance to the front runners, especially to Marc Marquez who crossed the finish line over 6 seconds before Rossi did
“This was the race I expected, this is our potential. This doesn’t mean I’m happy. The Suzuki bikes and Cal Crutchlow were faster than me, and in the end a couple of riders crashed and I was able to get important points for the championship. It’s not so much the result that counts, but the distance”.
After the Japanese GP, both Rossi and Maverick Viñales had a meeting with Yamaha top bosses, but Rossi says that at this meeting he said what he already said in other meetings and it might as well show Yamaha bosses a photo of him and a recording of his voice, because it seems they listen but they never do anything to solve the problems
“We weren’t competitive as in Thailand and I explained that to Yamaha bosses that were here in Motegi. It was important that they see how things are at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I know getting better isn’t easy because the level is very high. I always say the same at these meetings, I could put there a voice recorder and my photo instead of going there myself”, said Valentino Rossi at a press briefing with journalists at Yamaha motorhome in Motegi.