Following Valentino Rossi’s third podium of the 2018 MotoGP season and his second consecutive in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello on Sunday, the maestro has moved into second place in the riders’ standings behind Honda’s Marc Marquez.
The Spaniard though still has a 23 points advantage over the Italian with Rossi five points ahead of Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales. While those two enjoy a place in the Top 3, but the Japanese manufacturer’s bike is far from being a genuine title contender.
Even the satellite machinery of Johann Zarco run by Tech 3 has beaten the factory bike fair and square in some of the races. When asked Rossi if the consistent points results means he can call himself a contender, he said:
“For me not really because the fight for victory in the championship we have to go faster. If you check the ranking, [yes] 23 points is not a lot for sure and me and all my team and Yamaha will give the maximum [to push for the title].
“But this moment I am not fast enough for the championship. We need to improve especially in the race, but I am happy [to still be in such situation with an inferior bike].” Indeed, the consistent points results have helped Rossi and Vinales.
However, in terms of genuine pace, they are behind the Ducatis and even Zarco. Andrea Dovizioso’s double retirements along with Zarco’s patchy runs apart from the two podiums has given the Yamaha riders a slender advantage.
In fact, the gap from second to eighth is only 16 points as Dovizioso (66), Zarco (64), Danilo Petrucci (63, Pramac Racing), Andrea Iannone (60, Suzuki) and Cal Crutchlow (56, LCR Honda) form the rest of the field behind the Top 3.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t an easy third for Rossi at Mugello after starting from pole. He immediately dropped behind Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo and also lost out to Dovizioso, but was then involved in a race-long fight with Petrucci, Iannone and Alex Rins (Suzuki).
All the three managed to get themselves ahead of the Italian as well, but he fought back to third when he had Iannone to fend off in the closing stages. He regarded the last few laps tussle as a race ‘of the heart’ and not strategy.
The goal ahead is simple for the nine-time world champion – to ultimately fight for the title. Yamaha has been struggling off-late, but the Italian reckons the problem has been identified and it is only the hard part which remains – that is, to find a solution.
“For me the problems are very clear and I try to explain them, now Yamaha have to work and try and improve but it’s not easy,” he said. “It’s long work, it’s not sure that you’ll try good things.
“It’s the third podium of the season [for me] and I’m second in the Championship which is very positive, but my best result is third, and I want to fight for the win. We’ve improved the balance of the bike for a hot lap but at the moment over race distance we suffer so I hope we can improve the bike and start challenging for the win in the second half of the season.”
