Having finished second behind Cal Crutchlow in last weekend’s rain-affected Czech Grand Prix at Brno, Rossi finds himself 53 points in arrears of points leader Marquez, who completed the podium,

However, the Italian is now Marquez’s closest challenger after Lorenzo suffered another disastrous outing in mixed conditions, with tyre problems and two pitstops relegating him to 17th place.

Having now cleared Lorenzo in the battle to be the best of the Yamahas in the points, Rossi says his main goal will be to stay in front his teammate rather than try to close down Marquez.

Asked if he still considered himself in with a chance of winning the title outright, Rossi said: “No, because [I made] too many mistakes, a little bit of bad luck. I am too far.

“Also Marquez this year, he’s not only fast in all conditions but he always makes the right choice. So it’s very difficult to recover 53 points.”

He added: “I’m very happy when I arrive on the podium, and when I have a lot of points at the end of the season. I always race like this, I don’t want to [risk] everything for one race.

“The fight with Lorenzo for second place is very open, and it was very important to gain these points and stay in front.

“But at the same time Lorenzo is very strong, so I think it’s important to fight with him until the end, even if it’s just for second place.”

Lorenzo not thinking about points

When informed of Rossi’s comments, Lorenzo said beating the Italian in their final season together as teammates – before his switch to Ducati in 2017 – was of little importance to him.

“I don’t think about the championship, I just think about riding at my best, and get the best result I can,” said the Spaniard.

“Then after the race we see the standings, and how we are. [I only think] about winning as much as possible.

Elaborating on what is now a 59-point deficit to Marquez, Lorenzo added: “We’ve had half bad luck, half bad feeling and performances in the rain. Valentino was also unlucky to break the engine at Mugello.

“This makes Marc much more in front in the points. He’s doing a really constant and regular championship with the bike he has.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont