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The English version of Valentino Rossi post race interview.
English translation kindly offered by Sal Alexander.
Thank you Sal!
Rossi: Valencia? I’m still thinking about it
“What would you like to talk about?”, Valentino opens his press conference with a joke, but this is really not the time for laughter. What happened between him and Marquez today has changed the championship in a very negative way. The run to the world title has been taken to a different level here in Sepang, on a day in which motorcycling and sport have taken two separate roads.
Race Direction has punished Rossi with 3 points on his license, which combined with the 1 he got in Misano means he’ll start from the back of the grid in Valencia. “I might not even go, I’m still deciding”, is The Doctor’s view on the last race in the GP.
Valentino, what’s your version of the story?
“I’m really disappointed about what happened, I never wanted it to end this way. All I wanted was to play my cards with Lorenzo, things went differently and I wasn’t expecting it”.
Did Marquez play against you?
“Marquez’s behaviour today proves what I said on Thursday. I hoped that by exposing him publicly he would change, but instead exactly the opposite happened”.
Did you intentionally make him crash?
“Absolutely not, I didn’t kick him. From the side angle it’s not clear, but from the helicopter’s view you can see it very well. His right handle bar and my left leg touched, causing his front end to close. It was never my intention, all I wanted to do was to make him go wide and slow him down. I looked at him as if to say “What the f*** are you doing??”. If I wanted to kick him I would have done it 30 metres before, and a MotoGP bike doesn’t crash because of a minor collision like that”.
Race Direction sanctioned you…
“It’s a wrong sanction precisely because I didn’t want him to crash. Marquez won, his plan has played out perfectly. I’ve always been a fair rider, the first point on my license was taken in Misano because of a small mistake I made in qualifying, in which Lorenzo wasn’t affected in any way”.
Do you think this championship is distorted?
“Yes, it’s exactly like that. It’s hard to say who would have won between Lorenzo and me. Marc has decided that. I don’t know whether they both had an agreement on this. I didn’t think so at first, but now who knows.”
Why would Marquez make you loose?
“Just like I said on Thursday, because of what happened between him and me in Argentina and Assen. Alzamora confirmed this today, he told me Marc thinks I made him loose the championship. He definitely doesn’t know how to loose”.
Mike Webb, race director, said that Marquez was slowing you down…
“Yes, it’s extremely clear. Again, I’m sorry this happened because all I wanted was to bother him. This sanction takes the wind out of my sail almost for sure”.
Do you think you made a mistake by attacking him on Thursday?
“It’s true, maybe I made a mistake. Maybe he would have behaved the same way, but this way he did it more aggressively. But I wasn’t willing to suck it in and keep quiet about it. I have no regrets, the truth made Marc angry”.
What are your feelings right now?
“I’m really sad, I put all of myself into this championship. Loosing it on the track would have been disappointing, but like this makes it even worse. I’ve always been tough but fair in my career, I always accepted the outcome of the race”.
What did you tell Marc in Race Direction?
“What I really think about him, but that’s personal”.
Lorenzo said he’s lost all his respect towards you…
“I’ll survive, his reaction over all this had been really weird, I don’t understand it”.
