Comments from the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders after FP1 at the French GP

2020-10-13 07:59
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi had to brave cold and rainy conditions in this morning‘s Grand Prix de France FP1 session. The pair secured 6th and 8th place respectively.



Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi have started their quest at the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit in cold and rainy conditions. The team-mates used all the available time to try their YZR-M1s‘ wet set-up options, ending the session in 6th and 8th place respectively.

Viñales stuck to his plan made in the run-up to the weekend in Le Mans. He wanted to make a strong start to the French GP, and he wasted no time to get familiar with the wet track conditions. He showed great confidence and gradually improved his lap times. The Spaniard set two provisional fastest laps and completed the session in sixth place, 0.376s from first, with a 1'44.180s best time, set on lap 19/21.

Rossi initially had planned to use the FP1 session to progress work on the good feelings he had in Catalunya. But with the track conditions being fully wet this morning, he had to focus on his bike‘s wet set-up instead. The Italian lived up to his reputation and once again showed his great adaptability to rainy conditions. He worked diligently throughout FP1 and clocked a 1‘44.511s on lap 21/21, after the chequered flag had already come out, to finish the session in eighth place, 0.707s from the front.



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MAVERICK VIÑALES
MAVERICK VIÑALES


Position: 6th | Best lap time: 1'44.180 (+0.376s) | Laps: 21

This morning in the wet, the feeling was really good. Straight away, I was able to go fast and I'm in the top 6, which is really good in the wet, and I'm also close to the front guys. The track is very difficult, because the conditions are extremely cold and that makes it very easy to make a mistake. Anyway, the team did a good job, and we're going to try to repeat the work we did this morning in the afternoon. If it's dry, it will be very important that we take that opportunity to get inside the top 10 and Q2, because we don't know what will happen tomorrow.





VALENTINO ROSSI
VALENTINO ROSSI


Position: 8th | Best lap time: 1'44.511 (+0.707s) | Laps: 21

These are very difficult conditions, because it's not just wet, but it's also very cold. You have to ride very sweetly and pay constant attention. But the feeling is not too bad, I was quite good. At the end I did some good lap times. So we still need to work, but it was a good practice session.

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

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