He appears to be the usual Valentino after a less than inspiring race, a few jokes to downplay the situation and the normal lucidity when analysing what didn't work. This is what you see if you take what he says at face value and don't read between his words... Words that he chooses very carefully, wanting to send a clear message to Yamaha.

While Vinales admits that he hasn't understood what happened this weekend at Barcelona, the Doctor has very clear ideas.

The opener: “I'm very, very sad about this weekend. This is one of my favourite tracks, last year I won and I expected to complete a good race - he explains - But I was worried, because the grip level is similar to that of Jerez. These were my best races of 2016 and my worst this year, which is definitely strange”.

In fact, Valentino struggled, at one point the rear tyre let him down and he had to close the throttle. Unlike his team-mate though, he's not pointing the finger at Michelin.

“I definitely had not traction and had to slow a lot at the end - he admits - but the biggest issue was something else. This bike suffers from understeer, I don't have the confidence on corner entry that I had last year. The bike doesn't turn as it should, we need to lean right over and doing so stresses the tyres”.

This explains why the 2016 M1 bikes were faster with Zarco and Folger.

“The old bike has different problems, but it stressed the rear less and is easier to ride - continues Rossi - I've been riding the M1 for many years and am a good test rider and with this bike it's hard to complete the turns”.

Rarely does Valentino underline his talents, but today he wants to give Yamaha a slap on the wrist for having underestimated his sensations.

“When I tested the new bike at Valencia, I immediately had this sensation- he recalls - But Vinales arrived from Suzuki, was extremely motivated and was fast in the tests, and then he started to win. Everything seems to be OK and then going backwards is always horrible”.

As time went on, the situation didn't improve.

“Even when I've been competitive, like at Le Mans and Mugello, the problem at the front has been a constant - he underlines- Here, we also paid for the fact we didn't test before the race, preferring to test in France, but these were decisions taken months ago”.

Now they are playing catch-up and Valentino's been considering this for a while.

“After the Jerez test, I made some requests to Yamaha, tomorrow we'll have some new things to try and we'll see if they've satisfied my requests - he says - Right now we just have to focus on ourselves, there are 5 riders within 28 points and Maverick is leading the way, we can't forget that. I too, without the Le Mans crash, would be close to him, it's a strange season, very balanced. We need to be good at limiting the damage when things go badly and capitalise when they're going well”.