Rossi: "Honda Would Be At Front With Me Or Casey On It"

One of the biggest mysteries of the past few years in MotoGP has been Honda's fall from grace. Throughout the 990 era, the Honda RC211V was the motorcycle to beat, with only Valentino Rossi capable of achieving that feat. Since the switch to the 800s - a move believed to have been made under pressure from Honda - HRC has struggled to produce a bike that is even competitive, the RC212V outclassed by Yamaha's 800cc M1 and Ducati's Desmosedici. This failure has had knowledgeable people both inside and outside scratching their heads in incomprehension. HRC has both the manpower and the brains to produce title-winning equipment, so where have they gone wrong?

Valentino Rossi believes he knows what's wrong with HRC - at least this season. In an interview on GPOne.com, Rossi stated his belief that the problem lay with the riders, rather than the bike. "It's a question of riders," Rossi said. "With me or Stoner in the saddle, HRC would be at the front."

However, Rossi was careful to point out that HRC's current riders could hardly be blamed for the situation. "Pedrosa, the lead rider, is injured; Dovizioso, with a little more experience, is a potential world champion. And on the track, he gives gas, believe me. But right now, he hasn't made the kilometers necessary to develop a bike."

Rossi also spoke about the new schedule for the weekend, and like almost everyone else, complained about the lack of practice time. "With practice like this, with less time, we need to follow a program," Rossi commented. "There's no down time; we are having to use some of our data we collected previously, relying on theory, and a bit less on trying something, then trying it again."

But despite problems on corner entry, the Italian believed he was on track to being competitive on Sunday. "Let's say we are between 92 and 100 percent," he said. Sunday will show whether that will be enough to close the third of a second gap Rossi has to the leader, Casey Stoner.