In spite of everything, Valentino Rossi has not lost his good nature: “You think that this is a wasted year? No, I’ve travelled the world, seen a lot of beautiful cities and spoken with you, so it hasn’t been completely wasted” he joked after the umpteenth disappointing day. “At least I’m in the top ten”, he continued joking, looking at his 9th place in the standings.

“As I expected, no miracle occurred - he commented - If ever there was a track that could help us, it was Misano, certainly not Aragón. This is a historically difficult track for us, with long turns and not much grip.”

Is it the worst of the season?

“For me, the worst is Valencia. Aragón is in second place. In any case, we were unable to go fast at Misano and here, on a longer track, the gap behind the leaders is wider. Plus, when the temperatures rise, as happened between the morning and afternoon, we struggle more than the others. Heat aside, even in perfect conditions, we are still slower than Honda and Ducati.”

What can be done from now to Sunday?

“Work on the small things, try to stress the rear tyre as little as possible and try to have at least a decent pace.”

How does one move forward in this situation?

“It is undoubtedly difficult. You have to work even harder to achieve results that are not the ones you wanted. Performance is not what we expected, neither Viñales nor me, nor Yamaha. We need to have patience and hope.”

Besides the two years with Ducati, you have always won at least one race every season. This year there is a risk that you won’t manage to…

“If no miracle happens, I don’t think we will manage. As I said, it is a difficult situation, but this is my job and my commitment is 100%. We are here to ride decent races, staying calm and hoping for a better future.”

What are you asking of Yamaha for 2019?

“My job is not to say that we need a V4 engine or a frame made a certain way. I must say what the bike’s problems are and what I have said for some time now is that the match between the M1 and the tyres does not work. In my opinion, we need to work on various areas, but the engineers need to know where and how.”

Changing the subject, the FIM decided today to disqualify Fenati for the rest of 2018. Do you agree with the decision?

“A disqualification for two GP races was not enough in my opinion. Maybe 3 would have been better. They took it to 6 and at the end of the day, it doesn’t change much. I hope that Fenati has the strength to get back to racing because he has great talent.”