Rossi admitted that going for the win on Sunday was probably not the smartest choice he made, especially since the track at Donington Park was partially wet during the race. Also, considering that both championship rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner were out of the “big points” for the remainder of the race – the former crashing out and the latter paying tribute to poor tire strategy – the Italian was better off going for the championship rather than the win.
“I regret the mistake. Today I was racing for the win, even after Lorenzo's crash, so this attitude induced me into an error today. I'm left with the regret for the mistake: it was a strategy error, I should have been smarter. This is the second mistake I've made in a race this year, it's a big shame,” said Rossi after the race.
Nevertheless, the Italian wasn't too bumped by his performance on Sunday, especially since he put an extra 11 points between him and Lorenzo in the overall classification. Heading to this year's summer break, Rossi now holds a 25-point advantage over the Spaniard, with 8 grands prix to go.
“In any case, today I've done a great race, because when I was in the lead I was going extremely quick, and Dovi was smart to stay behind. Obviously I had to let him pass or slow down anyway, but it was very difficult to understand how much it was raining.”
“Luckily I dropped the bike while going slow and I was already leaning a lot so the bike slid very little and it didn't break. This are 11 extremely important points, because from the crash I made an incredible recovery. I chose to stay on the track on slicks even though it was raining a lot and it was the right decision, as I managed to snatch fifth from Toseland. These 11 points increase my lead to 25, so it's very good,” added the Italian.
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