Rossi: Yamaha can't delude itself over Thailand result

After a particularly insipid showing in Aragon, where Valentino Rossi and factory teammate Maverick Viñales finished eighth and 10th respectively, the works Yamaha racers enjoyed much more competitive outings at the new Buriram track last weekend.

Rossi qualified second behind race winner Marc Marquez and finished fourth, one place behind Vinales, who secured the Iwata manufacturer’s first top-three result since before the summer break at the Sachsenring.

But despite matching his best result of the second half of the year, Rossi said Yamaha cannot be satisfied with one good race and must consider the context of a sub-par latter half of the campaign.

“This is unfortunately a risk [that Yamaha thinks it has solved its problems], but it is a losing mentality,” he said. 

“So many times our engineers are happy if Maverick can make a good time in testing, they say, ‘we got it!’

“If I were a Yamaha engineer, I would analyse the results of the second part of the season and I would not be happy about one fast lap or a front row.”

Rossi admitted that Yamaha’s strong form was unexpected, theorising that the grip of the Buriram track surface could have contributed to the team’s strong performance.

“On paper this track is not a Yamaha track,” said the Italian. “I expected to suffer a lot more and to be for example stronger in Misano, but in Misano we struggled.

“For me, more than the layout of the track, is different the grip of the asphalt that helped us, more or less.

“If you want to be competitive you have to be strong everywhere because now Ducati and Honda are strong everywhere. For me, we miss something but maybe this weekend we improved, we will see in Motegi.”

Rossi enjoyed a spell in the lead of the Thailand race, passing Marquez on lap five, but slipped back to third six laps later and stayed there until he was passed by Vinales in the latter stages.

The seven-time premier class champion said he had no answer for his teammate’s late-race pace and conceded the Spaniard did the better job.

He recalled: “I try for all the race to save the tyres like everybody, because it’s more [like a] cycling race now – everybody waiting, sometimes one push for two laps, all the other guys follow but after [they] slow down.

“But in the last laps I was more in trouble, and I missed these two or three tenths.

“Looks like during the weekend he [Vinales] followed another way in the setting and is able to ride that type of bike and maybe save the tyre in a better way.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont

Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / LAT Images