Lorenzo: Title focus remains the same

The Spaniard was left with a clear 25-point lead over Honda's Dani Pedrosa after Rossi was ruled out of the summer with a broken leg following a massive practice crash at Mugello.

The 23-year-old factory Yamaha rider then produced a subdued performance to finish a distant second to Pedrosa in the Italian MotoGP race two weeks ago, and later admitted that the pressure of suddenly being Yamaha's only title hope may have affected his focus.

According to Lorenzo however, this will not happen again: "The accident changed how the points stand but not my mentality or my attitude on the track," he said at Silverstone on Thursday. "That is the same."

"We must focus on the track to try to get better and not to stop improving my riding. It's still a very long time to the end of the season," he said.

"I don't feel any extra pressure. That depends on your mindset. If your thoughts are fear or negative then you will feel the pressure. But I am here to enjoy it, I am here to ride. At the moment I don't feel any pressure, but we will see tomorrow and Saturday."

Most of the riders expect Silverstone to prove to be a fast MotoGP venue with its long straights and sweeping chicanes, but while the M1 appeared to lack speed in comparison to Honda and Ducati at Mugello, Lorenzo remains unperturbed.

"I'm not worried about the bike, I think the Yamaha is competitive," he said. "Maybe at the top speed we have a little bit less, but at Mugello we saw this was not a big disadvantage. It's okay."

As regards Rossi's replacement for the summer, which remains still undecided, Lorenzo indicated that he would like to see Colin Edwards return to the FIAT fold.

"I think it's not possible to have [Ben] Spies, because he is a rookie," he said referring to rule about rookies not being allowed to race factory bikes. "So maybe the best option is to have Colin. But I don't decide these things."