Valentino Rossi will concentrate on tyre management at the scorching Sepang MotoGP round as he believes it will be the key to a good performance on the Yamaha this weekend.

Both he and Maverick Vinales have struggled with the M1 as track temperatures get past 40°C but new electronic strategies employed new guru Michele Gadda should help their grip issues.

“I like this track a lot with the layout as it is technical and very fast. The demand on the rear tyre is very high because it is very hot so it will be hard as always,” said The Doctor.

“It looks like our bike is good but we need to pay attention to saving the tyre over the second half of the race as in the last two years it is the most important thing in MotoGP.

“Unfortunately in Australia I lost important points for the championship and I'm very disappointed about that, but I'm happy for Maverick and for Yamaha. We must continue to work hard because we have to be competitive at every race.”