Five MotoGP storylines set to unfold fin CrashTV: Video Thumbnail:

Rossi feels Yamaha’s grip issues are masked at the Qatar track as it plays to the strengths of his MotoGP machine while he fears he will suffer more at tracks less suited to Yamaha.

“The problem is that also last year in Qatar we were good,” he said. “For some reason the tyre slides here but resists. At other tracks usually when the tyre slides the performance drops more. So for me we are more or less on the same boat.”

Rossi also believes Yamaha’s MotoGP rivals have made comparatively bigger steps in performance, most notably Suzuki, as he finished behind Alex Rins and struggled to get past his rookie team-mate Joan Mir.

“It was a good race but the problem is that we arrived behind Ducati, Honda, non-factory Honda and also behind Suzuki,” he explained. “The problem is that Suzuki is strong here. Cal was very strong here last year. I was able to beat him in the fight I lost less time so more or less Cal is at the same level. But the bigger improvement is from the Suzukis.”

Last year at the Qatar round, Rossi claimed the final rostrum spot in third place 0.797s behind race-winner Andrea Dovizioso but this year he finished in fifth place but just 0.600s off the winner.