Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi says he needs a sit-down with Yamaha in order to improve the performance of the YZR-M1 on the softer tyres if they are to do anything about the Hondas this year.
The Doctor expected to arrive in front of both the Repsol-mounted riders in today's Jerez MotoGP round at a track which has favoured the Yamahas but he was unable to match either Pedrosa or Marquez.
"We were a bit in trouble with the rear tyre, the rear traction. We were not confident to use the hard tyre in this temperature so used the soft and we suffer a lot. We make some modify for the race which was better than this morning," said Rossi, speaking at Jerez.
"I make a good start, I was able to overtake Cal at the first corner and get in a good position. I also overtake Marquez but unfortunately, the top three guys are faster than me - not a lot but just a bit in every lap.
"If I have a good feeling from the front in the second part of the race I suffer in the first part pushing on the front and when Marc overtake me the second time, I wasn't able to go with him and Jorge. I have a place in the race where I did the same laptimes, but I have a 2.5s gap which is already too far.
"We are a bit worried because here we hope and expect to arrive in front of the Hondas so with Yamaha we have to work together to improve the bike to use this tyre in a better way as it looks like Honda is able to keep a better rhythm after some laps when our bike start to slide under acceleration."