Rossi: Yamaha Still Suffers In Mixed Condition

The M1 won five of the first seven races courtesy of Rossi (two) and teammate Jorge Lorenzo (three) this year. But since the Grand Prix of Catalunya, neither Rossi or Lorenzo has been victorious.

When asked about the development plan for 2017, the Italian said, "For me, we have to work a little bit on the engine. For try to be a bit faster on the straight. But especially we have to work on the bike to make the tyre work in a better way, especially the rear.

"It looks like in the second half of the season, especially Honda makes a good step and are able to slow down less [during the race] compared to us. I think this is the main target for the new bike.

"We can ride in both conditions, dry and wet today. This morning was quite dry, but not completely. The new surface is very good. Better for the bumps and grip. But it needs a lot of time to dry and here in Malaysia, it rains more or less every day. The new asphalt is also very dark, so is also difficult to understand where it's wet."

He added, "I was quite fast this morning and in the afternoon I felt quite good in the full wet, but then had some problems with the mixed conditions. So we hope for full dry or full wet."

Rossi also shared his opinion about how the Michelin is working on the new asphalt of the Sepang International Circuit. "Already Marquez did a 2min 1.2 and I did '1.6, but there were three corners that were 'humid' this morning. So I think if the track is perfect we can go minimum two seconds faster than last year."