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Valentino Rossi says Yamaha must strive to keep progressing throughout 2019 after its strong start to MotoGP pre-season testing.
Yamaha carried the strong form it showed in the first test of 2019 at Sepang into the opening day of running in Qatar on Saturday, as Maverick Vinales topped the timesheets.
Rossi was fifth-fastest, 0.553 seconds behind his team-mate, after spending the day working on refining the set-up of the M1 bike for the opening round of the season at the Losail circuit on March 10.
Rossi declared Yamaha was no longer “lost” at the previous test at Sepang, and has now urged the manufacturer not to squander the early momentum it has built up.
“I’m quite happy because I am more optimistic [than last year],” said the Italian, who recently turned 40.
“We work well, there’s a good atmosphere in the team, and the team is more concentrated and motivated compared to the last two years.
“For me it’s a long work. We need a bit of time. It’s not just three months to recover the gap.
“But the impression is not so bad and for me we can be a bit stronger than last year.”
Asked specifically what Yamaha must focus on improving now, Rossi said: “We always suffer a bit on rear grip – for example at this track it’s very important.
“But the degradation of the tyre, we suffered [with] very much last year, especially the last five laps, and looks like we make some small improvements in this area.
“We have to continue like this and we have to work well during the season.
“In the last few years we started not so badly, but during the season the other factories overtake us.
“This is the key. We need to work hard all season.”
Vinales began his spell at Yamaha with back-to-back wins in Qatar and Argentina at the start of 2017, only to fade dramatically from title contention as the season progressed.
Describing himself as “really happy” with his day’s work on Saturday, the Spaniard said he felt “in a better place” compared with the start of his second season with Yamaha 12 months ago.
“The lap time was pretty similar to last year, but I feel much better on the bike,” said Vinales.
“I feel better, I feel I can push the bike much more, I can ride my own riding style.
“But anyway, it’s not how we start, it’s how it ends. We need to be ready, we need to be strong.
“Even if the first race is not great we need to keep focused and see if we can make a big improvement.”