Valentino Rossi is urging caution about his potential in MotoGP’s season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, despite taking an excellent fourth position in qualifying.
In his first qualifying session with new team Petronas SRT, Rossi was only just squeezed off the front row by former works Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales.
But while he was able to find excellent time attack speed from nowhere to finish just 0.026s from Vinales and under 0.1s from fellow Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo in second, Rossi doesn’t believe that he’s got the pace he needs to challenge for the podium.
“I’m very happy because it’s a great way to start a new season with a new team,” said Rossi.
“With the second set of tyres, I was very comfortable with the bike, the grip was great, and the lap was great.
“I was able to ride well, to push without any mistakes, and in the end the lap time was impressive.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the front row, but we’re not too far, and starting from P4 is important for tomorrow’s race.”
But he knows the race is going to be a struggle because he was unable to find the set-up he thinks he needs to be competitive in the closing stages as the tyres start to fade.
Fast over one lap but without much in the way of race pace, he was towards the back of the timesheets in the all-important FP4 session in 17th place.
“I struggled during FP3 and FP4 on very old tyres,” he admitted.
“We’ve modified the bike but I still wasn’t good.
“I was good for qualifying but the rest of the day my pace wasn’t so good and we have to go back and try some things for the race.”
With high winds predicted for Sunday and the prospect of greatly reduced grip for the race should we see both cooler temperatures and a dirty track, Rossi is going into it with an open mind, well aware that anything can happen.
His qualifying result also owed something to his VR46 Academy apprentice Pecco Bagnaia, the Qatar polesitter on his factory Ducati debut.
Rossi followed Bagnaia around as he set his P1 time and benefitted from the tow of the Ducati in the process.
Bagnaia it was never his plan to assist his mentor to the top spot – but that it might be something they should consider in the future.
“I knew that he was there,” said Bagnaia. “He was in front of me on my first exit, but it wasn’t planned.
“When I saw he was behind me, I pushed just as hard because I prefer to ride alone, without anyone in front of me when I’m pushing at 100%. I can make my runs and I think I can push more alone.
“But we have to speak, because today this strategy worked and maybe in the future we have to try it again!”
