Joined Apr 2008
266 Posts | 6+
Hyderabad, India
Sure, he was a second a lap faster, and had caught up 4 seconds (EDIT 9 seconds actually, whilst overtaking other riders the whole time, while Rossi had been in 6th position for 5 laps and in 7th for 4 laps prior to that) rather than being 4 seconds a lap faster.
A second a lap faster and catching up 9 seconds is quite a lot in motogp though, suggesting Rossi had no chance of staying in front of him, and also should have been aware from his pitboard, dash messages or whatever that MM was closing on him fairly quickly.
Does this mean Rossi should have conceded the corner to MM?. Not imo, but this is being argued by some in regard to Lorenzo who had kept Dovi and Dani behind him for a number of laps in the reverse circumstance, and the inconsistency in the attitudes of many and from RD in particular is what is being argued.
I have no interest in the consistency in the attitudes of others in the forum. My only point is that Rossi was 8/10ths slower and not 4 seconds (or painfully slow) as is being bandied about multiple times.