On the eve of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has slammed MotoGP as “boring”.
Rossi has called for change in a sport dominated this year by Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, which he describes as “too perfect”.
“Now is the worst moment in MotoGP since I joined in 2000,” Rossi told BBC Sport this week.
“It is the most boring moment. Races are quite bad and it is very difficult to stay awake.”
Rossi won eight of nine races to start 2002 and won five of his world titles in succession.
Yet he believes a sport in which Lorenzo, Pedrosa and soon-to-retire Australian Casey Stoner have been the only winners this season is missing something and needs a shake-up.
“You look at Moto3, the races are very exciting, Moto2 is fantastic and then MotoGP is boring. So they have to change the product,” he said.
“The bikes and riders are very fast, but too perfect.”
Now 33, Rossi goes into the weekend’s Australian GP at Phillip Island with only two more races with Italian manufacturer Ducati before he rejoins Yamaha for 2013.
It has been a wretched time for Italian Rossi, who has finished on the podium just three times in his two seasons at Ducati and hasn’t won a race since 2010.
“This is not the time in my career to be struggling every weekend like this,” said Rossi.
“It will be difficult but I think that I have the potential to win some races next year. It is a great pity for me at Ducati.
“It was a dream, it was … important to try and win for Ducati but unfortunately we have no way. It has been two very difficult seasons.”
Rossi will be No.2 rider in his Yamaha team next season, as he partners Lorenzo, who is on course this season to win his second championship.
“I am at a certain age and I don’t know how many years I will continue in MotoGP, so I have to race with the best bike that I can,” Rossi said.
“Fortunately during my career, I have won more or less everything so I need to enjoy it to have the right motivation.
“I need to arrive at the circuit every weekend with the chance to fight for the victory. It will be difficult but that is why I change teams.”