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Yamaha bike "very dangerous" in the wet, says Rossi

Valentino Rossi said riding his Yamaha bike in a wet Sepang MotoGP race was "very dangerous", and he could have easily crashed.

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing

Rossi, along with Maverick Vinales, has spent the season struggling with the 2017-spec Yamaha bike in rainy conditions.

While they qualified fourth and fifth in a dry qualifying on Saturday at Sepang, they were unable to be competitive during the wet race.

Rossi dropped down to 11th after the start and fought with KTM duo Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith early on, before eventually finishing seventh, more than half a minute behind winner Andrea Dovizioso.

The Italian confirmed he was struggling with the usual problems, which was "frustrating", and said it was not safe racing with the Yamaha bike in the wet.

"We didn't have any grip, it is very difficult to ride the bike, also very dangerous," said Rossi. "You had the clear feeling that if you try a little bit more you crash, like I did in Motegi.

"On Friday in the wet I had some problems but I was sixth. Sincerely we modified a lot the bike and I was optimistic that would work but unfortunately I had exactly the same problem than on Friday."

"So this bike in the wet is very difficult to ride, it's impossible, we don't have grip and already to go like this, you risk very much.

"It is a shame because we need a good result to confirm Phillip Island and I think that in the dry I was competitive, during all the weekend I was quite strong so I could have done a good race.

"But unfortunately [there was] rain. You have to be ready in all the conditions and I hoped to do a step compared to Motegi, but in reality, no."

Vinales recovers "pre-season feeling" in the dry

Vinales echoed Rossi's complaints after finishing ninth, but said he expected to do an "incredible race" in the dry as he felt like during his dominant pre-season form.

"Actually this morning I was very happy and confident because we found a better setup and I recovered really the feeling I had in the pre-season," said Vinales.

"After warm-up, I said if it is dry, I can do an incredible race because with 20-lap [used] tyre I was able to do 2m00s, and I was very happy and thirsty [for victory].

"[In the rain] I tried and already I felt on the sighting lap, I was sliding everywhere so I said no way. Today was a very bad race, I didn't even check the position in the beginning because I thought I was last."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont

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