Valentino Rossi: Simoncelli must cut out mistakes

Valentino Rossi believes Marco Simoncelli will soon stop making the mistakes that have so far prevented the highly rated Italian from claiming his first podium finish in the MotoGP world championship.

The San Carlo Gresini Honda rider has proven in the opening six races of the season that he’s got the speed to run at the front in MotoGP and battle with the likes of Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

But he’s crashed out of three races so far including spills at Jerez and Silverstone in the rain when he was looking a certainty for a career first MotoGP rostrum.

He was also battling for second position in Le Mans when he was involved in the season’s biggest controversy so far. An aggressive overtake left Pedrosa with a broken right collarbone and the subsequent ride through penalty dropped Simoncelli to fifth.

When asked by MCN what he thought after Simoncelli squandered another golden podium chance at Silverstone recently, factory Ducati rider Rossi said: “Marco is always very fast but he makes a lot of mistakes and he needs to understand what is happening inside his head in this crucial moment. But very soon this moment will arrive because he is very fast. It is just his second year but he needs to understand his problem to try and improve, but Marco is very fast.”