Valentino Rossi Quotes

I race to win. If I am on the bike or in a car it will always be the same.

I have designs I like applied to my helmet, motorcycle, riding suits, gloves,and boots. I have a designer friend of mine put the designs on them for me. I think a livery on the helmet is significant in expressing a rider's personality.

The great fights with your strongest rivals are always the biggest motivation. When you win easily it's not the same taste.

I like physical exercise. I actually like sports in general. I really like snowboarding and playing soccer, too.

Fortunately during my career I have won more or less everything, so I need to enjoy it to have the right motivation.

You look at Moto3, the races are very exciting. Moto2 is fantastic, and then MotoGP is boring.

The speed is something dangerous but very exciting.

I try to have a different relationship with the bike. I don't give it a name, but I always speak with it. I don't know if the other riders do the same. This is not only a piece of metal - there is a soul. The bike talks back too. But not with a voice, with the components

Our sport is dangerous. We risk the life out there, so we need to stay calm and focused and leave all the rest out.

The work that we do during the winter is very important; we have a new bike and it's important to develop it during this time, and we start with this test.

I have a lot of energy after 2 A.M. I like to sleep in the morning. I have some problems at the start of the day.

Maybe if Graziano make another work or another sport I wouldn't have had this passion to be a rider.

Once the races begin it's more difficult and there is never that much time for testing.

You can tell people you fell because the bike didn't follow the trajectory it was supposed to follow, or tell them that you are actually really fast, but the bike simply isn't. inside you, however, you know the truth. You know you fell off because you made a mistake, or because your opponent is simply faster than you.

I think the secret is to understand that you still want to be part of the game. To do so, you have to forget all the victories you've managed to get in the previous years and have a great humility. You also need to realise that, if you want to go on, you have to work hard. If you dwell too much on your past successes and say "well, I have won nine world titles and more than 100 races", you'd rather stay home.

I feel 100% a Yamaha rider in my heart. I had a long career and raced with several factory bikes, but the highlight of my career is undoubtedly with Yamaha.

To be a great motorbike racer, the most important thing is passion for the bike.

It is a big problem and so I don't know for sure if I say yes or no to Ferrari.

I'm lucky because I don't feel too much pressure - it's only in the last hour before the race, and even then it's good, positive pressure.

How do Ferrari know what I'm doing next year when I don't know what I'm doing next week?

But I could also start F1 or rallying. I love rallying much more.

I'm very happy because I won a lot. I've won races and lived in a world that just gave me joy, so I remember it very positively.

I would have probably stolen cars - it would have given me the same adrenaline rush as racing.

It's a big, big advantage because understanding what changes we might make takes time and it takes time to work out settings and to understand everything about the new machine.

To win the Championship in the first year will be hard. We need time to become competitive and win races.

I am able to ride the bike and think clearly about strategy and tyres. I also have positive thinking. I am very constructively critical.

As for the level of spectacle of the two disciplines, I leave it to the people who watch the races to comment.

My father raced bikes. He gave me the passion very early. I had my first bike when I was three or four years old.

I never race for records. The motivation to try to beat the record is not enough to continue. You have to enjoy it.

We kept on racing, doing something that Luis [Salom] loved. Fortunately or unfortunately, life goes on.

In 2002 the Yamaha was at more or less the same level as the Honda, better in some ways, worse in others. But in the winter of last year between 2002 and 2003, Honda made a big step forward and it seemed as if Yamaha couldn't quite match that improvement.

I'm Valentino Rossi. And I want to be a person, not an icon.