"The world title? It's as difficult as winning the lottery, but you buy the ticket because you believe that you have a chance to win. You need to believe that you can make it. I believe in myself and this made me win many races. In the same way it made me crash, as in Mugello or Catalunya. I'm 22 years old and I'm still learning."
Our first goal was to regain the feeling with the bike. Returning to the 2014 chassis gave me the confidence we were missing. We did a big step at Assen and this weekend I was comfortable again on the bike."
"I really like the Sachsenring. The German track suits Honda's and my riding style. The long left corners are really nice and they give me the feeling of riding dirt track. Here there were just two corners where we struggled: Turn 8 and 12, two corners where we needed to keep the corner speed but we were sliding a lot on the rear."
I learned a lot from what happened at Assen with Valentino [Rossi]. This time I wanted to manage the situation better. You can do different lines in this corner, so I aimed at arriving here in front and winning. My strategy was to wait a little bit before trying to go away, but Jorge [Lorenzo] made a sensational start and Valentino was getting closer, so I decided push and manage the gap.
Sachsenring is an atypical l track. But I'm really happy because it was the first time this year that I was able to enjoy the bike: I could manage the tires, focus on changing my body position, push more where I had an advantage. I could feel the rear. And if the bike tended to close, I could correct and save the situation as it happened in the past. I started playing again with the bike but we need to keep on working because the character of the bike that makes us slide a lot when we enter the fast corners is still there.
We already had the feeling that the bike was too aggressive at Valencia 2014. The six-day test in Malaysia was misleading because we dominated both in the single lap as well as in the pace. In Qatar, I realized that I was not comfortable but we were fast. I started to speak with the Japanese at Austin, but Honda saw that I was winning. Back on the tight European tracks the problem was obvious. I was sliding a lot in the corner entry and exit, stressing the tires. It was difficult to understand the problem in a race situation.
[If I were grading myself for the first part of the season,] I would give myself a D. The worst moment was Barcelona with the second consecutive zero. The highlight was Assen because we regained the feeling with the bike.
I need to focus one race at the time. I won't change my approach. I will push 100 percent, but if one Sunday I have to finish 2nd or 3rd, I will do it.
When I was not feeling the bike, I doubted myself a little bit, and my riding style. But then I had to believe in myself and in Honda. It took some time, but I knew that the hard work would pay off.
Is oversteer my style or my Honda's? I think this it's more Honda's style, and riding like this is more effective.
This weekend I wanted to use the same bike as in Assen. I didn't want to know anything about new parts! When you have new parts, it can plant seeds of doubt within you. I wanted to be 100 percent focused. Anyway, the upcoming test will be very important to work on the bike because Misano has the kind of corners where we struggle.
