Valentino Rossi had his hopes dashed at the Sachsenring this afternoon after promising improvements with his Petronas in warm up failed to translate to the 30-lap German GP.

The veteran Italian brought his M1 home as the second-highest placed Yamaha, albeit in 14th, after battles with mid-pack traffic dented any potential progress.

“I had a good feeling from the warm up,” Rossi said after the race. 

“I had good grip, and I had a good lap time from the beginning to the end and I enjoy also to ride. So we start optimistic for the race, but in the race, everything is a bit more difficult. 

“I needed a good start, but I did a bad start, so I was stuck in the traffic, and it was very, very difficult to overtake,” he continued. 

“At the end, when I had free track in front of me, I did good lap times - I did a '22.0 in the race and this is a good lap time - I am in line with the top guys. This is good, but I have always to fight, I had always some traffic, so was not easy. At the end, in the last laps, my pace was quite bad, I had to slow down because I had a bit too much slide, so at the end I finished 14th. We take some points but we expected to do a bit better.”

It wasn’t just the ‘satellite’ outfit that appeared to be struggling with the Yamaha in Saxony. Maverick Viñales recorded the worst result of his MotoGP career this afternoon, finishing 19th and last, one place behind Rossi’s teammate Franky Morbidelli.

“Today also Franky and Maverick were struggling very much,” Rossi admitted. 

“We are all in a difficult condition with the Yamaha because if you don't start in front, is very difficult. Behind the other bikes we have to ride in a bit different way, so we cannot use the good points of our bike, and we suffer very much. Also in the straight we are very, very slow. I think that more or less all the bikes are faster than us so at the end, for overtake, you have to arrive at the braking very close - because now we brake very deep - but we always lose in the straight. More than overtaking, in the straight you have to hope that the guy behind you won't overtake you, so is difficult. Also this track, I think is not the best, it's not easy.

“I know Maverick well because we were teammates in the factory team for a long time and he is a very fast guy. Is a very strong guy, and has big talent. Our situation is a bit difficult, especially in the race because to fight with the others is not easy. So I hope that we can be stronger in the next races.

"I think that the bike is like this for this year,” Rossi said plainly. 

“The next test is Misano. Maybe in Misano we can have something new but you have to manage [with what you have]. You have to try the best, work well. Some tracks will be better, some tracks will be more difficult but I think that, more or less, our package is this, and we need to work to improve.

“On the other side, Quartararo is fast. He did a very good weekend, very good race. I think that his performance is quite impressive this year. He’s at the top of the championship so I think that he's able to manage this problem - also because he's able to start in front, more or less everywhere!

“I'm very happy to race in Assen next, because it's a great place. I love the track, naturally, but will be very difficult for sure, because everybody is very strong, everybody is very fast. We need to work well from Friday, and we hope for the good weather. On paper the track is better for Yamaha, so we will see!” he concluded optimistically.