On being ruthless

I generally don’t like the kind of races where you simply go away, leading from start to finish. But sometimes, it’s necessary to give a signal to my rivals.

On sporting maturity

I have realized that I don’t need to push to the maximum every time I’m on track. This has helped.

On his focus 

You have to be fully focused when riding the Honda. That’s how to be fast; otherwise, you make mistakes. Remember the Barcelona test? I was a little distracted going slow, and I crashed.

On pride

I’m tired of hearing that I’m winning because I’m riding a Honda. It is, for sure, a very good bike, and I have a very good feeling on it. But, the perfect bike doesn’t exist; the perfect rider doesn’t exist. If I win, it is because we have a superb team and I have great confidence with the RCV.

On his Honda

My bike is reliable and, at Honda, reliability is a must. Sometimes, we didn’t get the performance we wanted because we [compromised] engine reliability or some other parts. The Japanese engineers react very well to the issues we have. After the problem we had in Texas, they came back with solutions.

On being the leader

At Honda, the rider who has more points leads development. It has always been like this.

On improving records

Last year I had new leathers every time because I crashed every weekend. This year, I crashed at the Montmelo test, but in a race weekend, since Le Mans, I haven’t crashed. It’s another statistic I try to improve!