Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow said there was nothing he could do about the pace of the leading riders in today's Qatar MotoGP round as he rode as fast as he had in practice, they just went faster.
The Isle of Man resident said he was hampered by the stop-and-go nature of the Repsol Hondas, which interfered with the high corner speed style of the Yamaha but added that he might take a leaf out of Valentino Rossi book and get aggressive.
"There was nothing I could do. I ran the same pace in that race as I ran in the practices. There was no difference. At the end of the day, the other guys rode fast, Valentino especially was incredible but I have to say that as soon as the Yamaha gets a clear track, I could run those laps," said Crutchlow, speaking at Qatar.
"Jorge could run those laps. It's about being able to carry the corner speed. As soon as I am behind a Honda, having to stop where they do, I can't get out of the corner. That's why I was a little wider than them. I was also losing half a second in a straight line. When Valentino got on the back of the Hondas, he could hold the slipstream, we were still dropping back and I couldn't hold it."
"Valentino was able to make a pass on them because he was so aggressive. If you can run the Yamaha arc, you can get good drive. I would say that's the best he rode in five years. If you look at how he came across the gap, it was impressive. I will have to take a leaf out of Valentino's book and start charging, because if that's the only way to do it, then we have got to do it."