Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi admits he was “not very fast” during Friday's MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix practices, after ending the day in 14th.
Rossi admitted during Thursday's pre-event press conference that the Jerez weekend would be “important” in understanding how big a step Yamaha has made over last year.
After finishing FP1 close to 1.5 seconds off the pace in 18th, Rossi found 0.7s in the afternoon session, but was still 0.772s off the pace in 14th.
Rossi says he did not feel “comfortable” on his M1, and that changes made to the bike between session “didn't fix enough” his issues.
“We arrive here in Jerez and we know we have to suffer a little bit, because in the last two years in this track we were not very strong,” said Rossi.
“In fact it's like this. We hoped we could be faster, we could be stronger but it was a difficult day.
“I'm not very fast, I don't feel comfortable with the bike and we try something in the afternoon, but we don't fix enough.
“So now we have to see, we have to check all the data and work hard this night to try to improve.”
When asked to elaborate on what his main issue was, Rossi admits it is just a “general” problem rather than anything specific, while revealing his M1 is “like it was” in Texas, where he finished on the podium.
“For me the problem is the way the tyre works,” he added.
“We don't have a particular problem, we just have a problem in general. The bike is like it was in Austin, so it means the marriage between the bike, the tyres, the asphalt is not fantastic.”
Rossi debuted Yamaha's interpretation of the swingarm-mounted rear tyre cooling device during Friday practice, though says it didn't make much of a noticeable impact.
“We tried the 'spoon' to try to have a bit less temperature on the rear tyre. We tried it, we took it off. It's not [making] a big difference.”
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