You don’t need the years, the past experiences, the scars that you have inside of you; Even if your name is Valentino Rossi, you are defenseless in tragedy. The news of Jason Depasquier’s death hit all the drivers in the paddock and Valentino tried to find an explanation for all of this.
“First I would like to express my condolences to his family, the team and his friends – he said – I already knew last night that the situation was very critical, desperate, Sasaki had hit him on the head. But it is one thing to know that one’s condition is serious and another to know that a driver is dead. You wonder if it makes sense to keep going, driving and racing. I think it doesn’t make any sense, but neither does it because anything we do today cannot change what happened yesterday. It was a difficult day and you wonder why you race ”.
There are people who think that if a MotoGP rider had lost his life things would have changed, but Rossi disagrees.
“In my opinion, nothing would have changed. We didn’t race in Malaysia in 2011, but in this case, Simoncelli’s accident happened during the race, in Barcelona and Misano, after the tragedies of Salom and Tomizawa, we did it instead. I don’t see any discrimination in this sense. We can wonder if it’s right and maybe it isn’t, but it wouldn’t change anything anyway. Of course you wonder why you are doing what is the point of all of this. Everyone wanted to go home, but there is another race next week. As for me, if they had told me we didn’t drive, I would have agreed.
The dynamics of certain accidents seem inevitable …
“We have done a lot for the safety of the tracks, but we still need more – so Rossi continues – we often ask to widen the run-off areas, but sometimes it is not possible because of a lack of money or space. With our racing equipment – I’m talking about suits, helmets, airbags – we’ve made important steps forward, but The problem of falling, falling by the wayside and being hit by another driver, as happened to Simoncelli and Tomizawa, is difficult to solve, there is little we can do. In practice we could ride alone, but in the race we’re all together, just look at today’s Moto3 race ”.
Oliveira claimed that the Moto3 performance was too high …
“I think the problem is that they are always so close together – was his opinion – Especially here in Mugello, where towing makes a big difference, there are trains with 6 or 7 motorcycles, but it also happens in Moto2 and MotoGP. If all motorcycles were to drive a little slower, it would certainly be less dangerous, but I don’t know how to do that. “
Valentino then talked about his race.
“I had a good start, I overtook two or three drivers, but there was a bit of confusion in the first corner – he says – Vinales got off the line, I had to brake and I was in the middle of Pirro and Lecuona. We touched and I lost touch with everyone, I found myself penultimate. It was a shame because I had a decent pace “.
Better than what we’ve seen in practice …
“We had some problems because there are a lot of bumps, especially when you brake in an inclined position – explained Valentino – We made the bike a little softer and I already felt better during the warm-up, then we could adjust the electronics to match the race we have I did a good job from this point of view. Overtaking the other drivers was not easy as I came out of the last corner a little slowly and was not exactly lightning on the straight. In the end I was 10th, I got a few points and it’s not bad in the situation we are in now.
Finally, Rossi commented on his brand colleague Quartararo’s performance …
“He made the difference and it’s not the first time – he congratulated him – he did the same thing in Qatar, Portimao and Jerez before he had arm problems. Here he always drove the maximum and made no mistakes, if he no longer has any physical problems he is the favorite because he is the fastest. Bagnaia was the only rider at his level this weekend and if he hadn’t made a mistake it would have been an interesting fight. “