Rossi had a solid Friday, finishing second and fourth in the two practice sessions - although he was beaten by at least one Honda in both.

The Italian, however, is more worried about the rival marque's race pace.

"Looks like we are not so bad, especially with the new tyres we are quite fast, but we suffer a bit after some laps," Rossi conceded.

"We stress a bit too much the tyres and we lose some grip and some performance. So this is the main target - we have to work, we have to try and improve because for the race pace, the Hondas are very strong.

"It's not about the top lap, but after some laps, they are able to keep the pace and it looks like they stress a bit less the tyres. So if you want to try and fight with them, we need to improve these points.

"We don't have any particular weak points - we are not so bad everywhere. But it looks after some laps, the Hondas - especially the two factory [riders], but also [Cal] Crutchlow - have a good pace and it looks like they are able to stay strong so we need to improve there."

Meanwhile, his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who had a quieter Friday with fifth in FP1 and seventh in FP2, said: "We have to improve a lot, especially on entry of the corners - I cannot stop the bike - but we are better than this seventh place."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont and German Garcia Casanova