I have a fantastic relationship with this factory and my team crew, who have worked so hard to make the M1 as competitive as it is now, and it just made sense to stay with Yamaha for another year.

I'm happy because the bike worked well. I was confident of a pole position but Nicky set a fantastic lap time ... and second position for tomorrow is not so bad.

I have won on Honda and Yamaha so maybe it is interesting to win with a third team, Ducati, who are Italian.

The most important thing is to have a good relationship with the bike... you have to understand what she wants. I think of a motorcycle as a woman, and I know that sounds silly, but it's true.

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

We have the 2004 M1 here for reference, which is useful. It worked well here last year; we won the race and always did fast lap times so it will be interesting to compare it to the new bike and it will help us to understand which parts have improved.