Yamaha's Valentino Rossi says crashing out of victory contention from the final two races of the 2018 MotoGP season was a “shit emotion”.
The Italian was on course to end his 15-month win drought in the midst of a Yamaha resurgence at the Malaysian Grand Prix when he crashed late on out of a long-time lead.
At the rain-lashed finale in Valencia, Rossi made a play for the lead prior to the red flag having started from 16th and was just over two seconds adrift of Andrea Dovizioso at the restart when he crashed out of second place.
Speaking after the Valencia race, Rossi admits it was “shit” to come so close to avoiding his first winless campaign in Yamaha colours, but was upbeat at the return of his competitive form in the latter events of the season.
“It's a shit emotion. It's very bad, unfortunately this year I wasn't able to win but in the last two races I was very close in dry and wet, this remains,” said Rossi, who finishes the year third overall.
“So we have to work, because the end of the season for Yamaha is quite positive because we were quite competitive, also Maverick [Vinales] won at Phillip Island.
“But if we want to fight, especially with Honda and Ducati, we need to help during this winter from Yamaha to improve this winter.”
Commenting on his third-place in the standings, Rossi feels he “deserves” it he “always fought” during the year even when the “situation was very bad”.
“So in the last two races of the season I don't take any result, but I was fighting for the victory,” he added.
“This is a great, great feeling, and when you fight for the victory it's something very positive. The other positive thing is that I finished third in the championship, the first Yamaha.
“I think I deserve because I always fight all the season even when the situation was very difficult, and it was not easy because Maverick start from pole, I start from 16th.
“So it's the other positive thing of the final race."
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