Rossi: Yamaha inconsistency the “great surprise” of 2017

Yamaha suffered a low-key qualifying session in wet conditions at the Sachsenring, with Rossi and Maverick Vinales only taking ninth and 11th respectively.

After the session, Rossi admitted the manufacturer was puzzled by its inconsistent form – as it had performed reasonably well in the wet at Assen the week before.

“Here in Sachsenring, like happened a lot of times this year, we have a very different feeling from one track to the other with the bike and especially with the tyres,” Rossi said. “So this is a great surprise of this year.

“Usually in the last years was more constant and this feeling [now] is very difficult to manage because you never know what you have to expect.”

At Assen, Tech 3 Yamaha privateer Johann Zarco claimed his maiden pole on a wet track, with Rossi – running his preferred new Yamaha chassis – qualifying fifth and then going on to win the race in mixed conditions.

Tech 3's other rider Jonas Folger led the way for Yamaha in Sachsenring qualifying with fifth, but Zarco himself had a very subdued run to 19th.

Rossi added: “Today we improve a lot and sincerely on the dry I'm not fantastic but my pace is not so far from the top guys.

“But unfortunately on the wet I struggle more, looks like all the Yamahas struggle - except Folger, in the end he's not so bad but it's like we're a bit slower compared to Ducati and Honda.”

Asked whether Michelin's tyres were the cause of Yamaha's varying performance, Rossi was non-committal in his answer but said it was not down to the bike.

“Imagine that Zarco with the '16 bike - last week on the wet was on pole position, and after a week in the same condition he's in 19th place.

“So it's not the bike, because also for me was the same with the new chassis. I was strong in Assen on the wet and here I struggle more.

“It's very difficult to understand because also compared to last year, the feeling with the bike and the setting is incredibly different.”

Electronics “not working well” - Vinales

Vinales, who qualified a tenth and a half behind Rossi, said he was losing most of the laptime on acceleration.

“I did some laps behind Dani [Pedrosa, Honda rider], our bike is very strong with the front, braking and going into the corners I feel really strong but suddenly when we touch the gas, we lose so much,” Vinales said.

“Our bike has no drive. Especially from zero to 100, our bike is really slow. It's really strange because on the dry it's totally normal.

“It's a problem we have and we have to resolve. The electronics are not working well on the bike, so we have to resolve that.”

Asked about Vinales' suggestion that Yamaha was losing time on acceleration due to electronics, Rossi said: “I don't know the problem of Maverick, but in the acceleration we lose, we lose compared to the other bikes, looks like we have less traction and exit of the corner we spin more.”

Additional reporting by David Gruz and Oriol Puigdemont