Ahead of the GoPro British Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) sat down with motogp.com to talk about the Championship spectacle, this season and his future plans.
“It’s one of the best periods to follow MotoGP™,” comments Rossi, recognising how competitive the Championship has become. “You have crazy races, if I’m at home I’ll stay in front of the television. So, I think that this is good for the Championship but sometimes it’s difficult when you’re in trouble.”
It’s no secret that 2018 has been difficult for the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team, having gone over a year without winning a Grand Prix. “A difficult season because I think that Yamaha, at this moment, is not as competitive as Honda and Ducati… There’s a long, long way to the end of the season and it’s quite frustrating if you’re not able to improve. For me, it’s very important to understand if Yamaha want to win. And not only if Yamaha want to win, but how much because if they make more effort and the Yamaha has the potential, we can recover the situation.”
The conversation continues onto Rossi’s superb physical condition and despite approaching 40-years-old, the ‘Doctor’ tells motogp.com that he is feeling “very strong” this season. “Sincerely speaking, this year I feel very good, I am in great shape. We train very hard and I feel good. We arrive at the end of the race with enough energy to make another five laps, so it’s a shame that we are not at the top on the technical point because I feel very strong.”
The number 46 has four consecutive podiums at Silverstone, including a win in 2015. Can Rossi break the unwanted Yamaha streak and claim victory at the British GP this weekend?
You can watch the full interview with Rossi below!