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Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi says he is “very upset” about a mistake in his pit box that has consigned him to 12th on the grid for MotoGP’s Silverstone round.
Rossi was slowest of all in the delayed Q2 pole shootout, which was affected by rain, after he failed to leave the pits in time to start his final flying lap before the chequered flag was shown.
The Italian said he missed out on being able to set a time by two seconds, and claimed the lap he completed anyway would have put him fifth and on the second row of the grid.
“I was very upset because this time we had a good strategy,” recalled Rossi.
“We were a little bit tight but unfortunately we made a mistake in the box and lost too much time to change the rear tyre, and I took the flag two seconds [too late].
“It’s a shame because I think the [2m]10.7s on the last lap [would have given me] P5, starting on the second row, it was good.
“The strategy was OK, we had the right tyres, but we did a mistake in the box and we were a little bit unlucky.”
Heavy rain is forecast for Sunday, with safety concerns prompting organisers to reschedule the race and hold it before the supporting Moto2 and Moto3 events.
Rossi said his feeling in qualifying’s mixed conditions was “not so bad” but admitted that Yamaha must “work more” to optimise the M1 in the case of worse weather.
Team-mate Maverick Vinales was only 11th fastest, despite leading an FP4 session that took place largely in dry conditions until a late rain shower.
“We don’t have many laps in the wet with this new set-up so we need many to understand the way to go fast,” said Vinales.
“It looks like we understand it [the bike] in the dry but still we need to work more for the rain.
“If it’s wet [on Sunday] we’ve got to work in the warm-up, I think we can still improve it at least to feel more competitive.”