Works Yamaha rider and two-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has spoken of his relationship with returning team-mate and rival Valentino Rossi, saying they don't have to be good friends.

The two riders will be back racing together on their YZR-M1 Yamaha machines and for riders and fans alike it will be déjà-vu.

Rossi left Yamaha two years ago to join Ducati, but after a poor couple of seasons Rossi is returning to the tracks once again on a Yamaha. But Lorenzo has mixed emotions about the return of Rossi, and admits that they will never be the best of friends, but says on the other hand the Italian's return to his garage may be a blessing in disguise.

"It is not necessary to be best friends and to share a team together; motorbike racing is not like soccer or basketball. MotoGP is not a collective sport even if you share a team with another rider. You just try to do your job and you try to have a relationship with everyone in the garage. But it is not necessary to make friends, if you get friends it is better, but it is not necessary to be friends to work together," said Lorenzo, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

"I think it is a great opportunity for me to have Valentino at Yamaha, and for Valentino it could be a great change for him too, and he will be more competitive on the Yamaha, and he will be quicker. It will be difficult for me to beat him, to stay on top of him, and he will try to kick my ass.

"But it is a great opportunity as a rider to have this pressure on the back of you, to keep you going to the maximum of your capacity, and to have a team mate who keeps pushing you. Ben Spies is a tremendous rider but he didn't demonstrate his real talent last year, for this reason I think Yamaha should make a change. But it will be difficult for both Valentino and me this year.

"I think it is positive that Valentino is back with Yamaha, if he is competitive and I am sure that he will be, I think he will push me further and to my limits."