• Bagnaia: ‘Martin was faster, bu🌠t we made a mistake’
• Martin: Pecco move ‘aggressive’, contact with Marc ‘waꩲs racing, let’s go for it’

Bagnaia has a 🅷14-point advantage over Bagnaia heading into Sunday’s Valencia MotoGP.

Rossi, who has twice entered a final round leading a championship but w♑ho lost out on both occasions, told : "Fourteen points are an important advantage in a race. 

“ꦓBut it's also the laꦡst one and it's tough. [Pecco is] all in. 

“I certainly would have preferred to have a 14-point advantage than a dis🍷advantage. 

“It mus𝔍t be said that Pecco will start second, he can start well, hoping he makes the right tyre choice." 

Last year Bagnaia became the first VR46🍎 Academy graduate to win the MotoGP title.

Rossi said✃ about Bagnaia this sea🎃son: "He seems calmer to me than last year, because he has already experienced all this and experience always helps. 

“[Friday] night we spoke and [Saturdꦫay] he gave 🔯everything he had and what we had thought of. [Saturday night] will be more tough but it won't be easy for Martin either."

Martin won Saturday’꧙s sprint, Bagnaia finished fifth, to reduce the deficit from🍌 21 to 14 points.

Rossi assessed the sprint race: "We also asked ou𒁃rselves ꦏwhy Bagnaia hadn't copied Martin's tyres.

“If it was the right choice it would have ⛦been for both of them, ditto i꧅f it had been wrong.

“But Pecco felt good with th🍰e medium in the morning, Bezzecchi and Marini also started with the medium, it seemed that the two tyres were similar from the data. 

“And instead in the race the soft ma✃de the di🐭fference." 

Rossi assessed the chasing Pramac challenger: "Martin is playing everything, he is rea🔥dy to do anything to win the World Championship, like marking Pecco on Friday... 

“But Bagnaia [on Saturday] was perfect from the first lap, he overturned everything and there was also the dream ෴of closing it already in the sprint, but it didn't go that way."

Rossi added about Martin: "It was immediately clearﷺ that he was one of ♌the strong ones in MotoGP. 

“There were doubts about his physique, he had had bad injuries, bꦑut si🍨nce Pecco crashed in Barcelona Martin has put the march. 

“He understood that it could be his chance. “There were 66 p♛oints behind and the World Championship was almost over, but from there Martin said 'this is the chance, I'll try'.” 

Seven-time MotoGP champion Rossi’s appearance in the Valencia paddock adds a꧙n extra layer of e♔xcitement to the final round.

He joked about his role as a retired r♔ider: "In the meantime I take a lot of photos wit﷽h the fans! 

“Then I try to help our riders but I also live it🌱 from the heart.

“It's nice to see it from the outside, on the 🍌grid. 

“It's always a great atmosphere, there's the tensionℱ of the race but in the end it's not me who's racing."