Rossi: "We have to work"

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) cut it fine to guarantee graduation to Q2 qualifying at the #QatarGP, but the nine-time World Champion pipped compatriot Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) to P10 by just 0.021 to move through.

Teammate Maverick Viñales remained top despite a crash – but Rossi ticked off the first goal of the race weekend, ensuring a spot in Q2 and able to fight for the top grid positions on Saturday - despite some mechanical trouble in FP3. Next focus: corner entry.

Valentino Rossi, P10: "Today we started in a good way, because in FP2 I wasn‘t doing so bad and I set my best lap time. We still needed to improve, but in FP3 I suffered from a lack of grip and was more in trouble. At the end, I also had a problem with a sensor. We had to change the rear suspension for another one with another setting that wasn‘t fantastic. I did just one lap and I wasn‘t able to improve my time of FP2, but the good thing is that we stayed in the top 10, so tomorrow we can start from Q2 and we‘ll see. We have to work: I‘m still not able to enter the corners fast enough and I suffer a bit, so we have to try to make that better. I think for me personally it will be difficult to do the whole race on the softer tyre, so we are now more open to using the medium tyre."