Once the races begin it’s more difficult and there is never that much time for testing.

Once the races begin it’s more difficult and there is never that much time for testing.

I don’t like being famous – it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse.

In 2002 the Yamaha was at more or less the same level as the Honda, better in some ways, worse in others. But in the winter of last year between 2002 and 2003, Honda made a big step forward and it seemed as if Yamaha couldn’t quite match that improvement.

As for the level of spectacle of the two disciplines, I leave it to the people who watch the races to comment.

If I test the car for a year I can be quite competitive the next season.

I always enjoyed myself a lot in pre-school.

I’m Valentino Rossi. And I want to be a person, not an icon.

But I could also start F1 or rallying. I love rallying much more.

How do Ferrari know what I’m doing next year when I don’t know what I’m doing next week?

Also, when I started racing he knew a lot of people and it was more easy for me to find the first bike, so I have a good chance for sure.

It’s a big, big advantage because understanding what changes we might make takes time and it takes time to work out settings and to understand everything about the new machine.

I race to win. If I am on the bike or in a car it will always be the same.

I would have probably stolen cars – it would have given me the same adrenaline rush as racing.

I have won on Honda and Yamaha so maybe it is interesting to win with a third team, Ducati, who are Italian.

Maybe if Graziano make another work or another sport I wouldn’t have had this passion to be a rider.

To win the Championship in the first year will be hard. We need time to become competitive and win races.

It is a big problem and so I don’t know for sure if I say yes or no to Ferrari.

We have the 2004 M1 here for reference, which is useful. It worked well here last year; we won the race and always did fast lap times so it will be interesting to compare it to the new bike and it will help us to understand which parts have improved.

Riding a race bike is an art – a thing that you do because you feel something inside.

The work that we do during the winter is very important; we have a new bike and it’s important to develop it during this time, and we start with this test.

In my opinion we are at the limit now, and 17 races is really too much. With all the testing that we do now, it means we’re always on the bike and it’s quite difficult.