Petronas Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi’s current MotoGP rut continued with a subdued showing in Friday practice at Jerez – and the Italian has admitted he’s struggling to enjoy himself.
With just four points on the board this year and a run of finishing no better than 12th in his last nine MotoGP races, the seven-time champion finds himself in career-worst form as he and Yamaha approach decision time over whether he will continue in 2022.
Rossi didn’t enjoy much of a reprieve as the Spanish GP weekend began, as he finished Friday 21st-fastest – and though he did have his fastest lap deleted for a track limits violation, it would’ve only put him 19th.
“I’m not fast enough,” he said. “My [long-run] pace was a bit better than the time attack. Also unfortunately on the time attack, on the good lap, I touched the green [-painted asphalt], if not I was two or three positions more in front, nothing special.
“And my pace is a bit better but I’m not fast enough. I have similar problems because I always suffer very much with the rear grip, especially after some laps.
“For me it’s difficult, the rear tyre, because I slide a bit too much. And today we tried different things, two different bikes, but the feeling is very similar. So we are not able at this moment to fix the problem.”
Rear grip has been a long-running complaint of Rossi’s, and he described the issue as being “sometimes a bit different” but overall “very similar”.
“Now it looks like the rear tyre is very soft, and usually in all my career I always preferred hard tyres.
“For this reason I suffer a lot, especially after some laps, because the rear moves very much. But this is the tyres, and the others are able anyway to be strong with this, so we need to try to manage this situation.”
At Jerez, the problem is exacerbated by the Spanish venue being “a critical track for the rear grip, especially in the last years”, according to Rossi – who is banking on surface grip build-up over the rest of the weekend to improve his fortunes.
As it stands, the Italian is not able to ride at his “maximum”.
In an interview earlier this month, Rossi has acknowledged he passed up the opportunity to retire at his peak in MotoGP, but intimated he had no intention of walking away as long as he still enjoyed himself.
But when asked by The Race on Friday whether he still enjoyed difficult days like these, Rossi said: “You know, to ride the bike, to be here and work, it’s good, it’s great, but the results are crucial.
“You need to be strong – maybe also we don’t have always to win but anyway to fight for the podium, to fight for the important position.
“So for that reason I am not happy, because I am not fast. And when you are slower, when you are slow, it’s not very fun.”
