New age limit ‘better, but I don't know if it will fix all the problems’ - Rossi

Valentino Rossi finished day-one of the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP a disappointing 22nd after encountering yet more problems in mixed conditions. 

Rossi was one of three Yamaha riders to finish inside the bottom five, although the fastest Yamaha rider, championship leader himself Fabio Quartararo, was only 16th. 

This came after a full wet FP1 session in which Rossi finished less than two tenths off the top ten in 12th. 

"I have mixed feelings because in FP1 I was not so bad with the full wet. With a good amount of water on track I was quite fast," said Rossi.

"I had a good feeling with the bike and was not so far from the top ten. Unfortunately in the afternoon we passed through these mixed conditions where we suffer a lot. 

"When the track starts to become dry we are always in trouble and the bike becomes very difficult to ride. So, in the afternoon I was not very fast." 

Away from the on-track action, Rossi also spoke about the new safety measures that will be introduced from 2023 onwards. 

The FIM confirmed today that the new starting age for riders in Moto3 and Moto2 will be 18 (same as MotoGP) as opposed to the current 16 year-old minimum limit. 

This all comes due to several irresponsible riding incidents this year - not just in MotoGP as the same rules have been implemented in the WorldSBK paddock for WorldSSP and SSP300. 

Rossi alluded to the new rules being ‘better’ but that it won’t necessarily fix ‘all the problems’. 

Rossi added: "I saw that in the Moto3 and Moto2 world championships it’s from 16 to 18 now and in MotoGP It’s still 18 also. 

"Especially in Moto3, 16 to 18 is a big change. Everybody wants to start as soon as possible. 

"It’s a big difference because two years is a lot. I don’t know, for sure, for safety this is better but I don’t know if it will fix all the problems. 

"I think it is more important that all the riders have better behaviour when they are one the track. 

"They need to follow more precisely the races, race direction and they (race direction) need to be more strict. I started at 17 in the world championship 25 years ago, 18 is quite high."

Like Rossi, long-time rival Marc Marquez also feels it is a ‘good change’ even though he came into the paddock at just 15  years of age and has since claimed eight world titles. 

"For me, it's a good change. After everything that happened this year, it's time to change something," said Marquez. 

"It's true that maybe I'm not the rider to say, because I arrived in the world championship with 15 years old, I moved to MotoGP with 20 years old, one of the youngest ones. But it's true that now the tendency is like if you are not in MotoGP with 20 years old, you are not a good rider. And it's not like this. 

"Sometimes some riders need more time than the other ones, and to move the age means that everybody will be more ready, and everybody will be more mature. 

"Because it's normal and it's natural that with 15 years old you make one kind of mistakes, with 18 you do another kind of mistake, and with 22 you will do another kind of mistake. 

"But if you can avoid or you can arrive with more experience, more mature in a world championship, it will be better. But this needs to be a consequence from the smallest category. 

"I mean, now it looks like if a baby with 4, or 5 years old is not on the bike, it's too late already. And it's not like this, you can start on the bike with 7, 8, 9 years old with a small bike."