Q & A with Nicky Hayden

With plenty of talk about the design of his front fairing, and those confidence-sapping crashes in testing at Qatar last month, Hayden has had a pretty tough start to the year.

Former champion Valentino Rossi has no doubts that Hayden will bounce back, saying: "The number one is very heavy on the fairing of Hayden. At the moment, Nicky does not use well the 800 but he will arrive because he is a good rider."

Autosport.com heard from Hayden himself about his first day in Qatar and why he is struggling to get the most out of his Honda at the moment.

Q. How has the day been?

Nicky Hayden: This morning I lost a bit of time, I had a problem with one bike not running right. It was dying, something with the fuel injection was not right, so we lost a little bit of time. That has kind of how my day has been. Not too smooth. I was a second faster this afternoon but still a long way off. I don't know how to sugarcoat it and say how we got it already fixed. We have got some issues to work on.

Q. What are the issues you had at the last test and now?

NH: Well, last time I was pushing the front a lot. The first day I was riding through it and I was fastest at lunch time on the first day, and then I crashed twice on the second day because the front wasn't steering or turning and I was trying to push through it. I like good front feel and right now I don't have it.

Q. Is it a chassis thing or a tyre thing?

NH: You know, it's been my biggest problem since I have ridden this bike. We have changed everything, a lot of suspension geometry, tyres, a lot of things, and haven't really put a dent in it. We haven't come across where it is coming from.

Q. And your straightline speed is well down, even compared to the other Hondas. What do you attribute that to?

NH: I am not really sure. Obviously I am not getting out of that last corner good.

Q. But you are not that much slower than the Ducatis through there?

NH: No. I mean, I can't really say why the top speed isn't there. We were supposed to have a different fairing this week to help me a little bit. But we got one, that is bigger and different, but they kind of just modified the one we got. I don't know if you have seen it, but it is not really quite the answer.

Q. How different is it?

NH: You can look at it, because they just put it over the top of the old fairing. It's like a little bit of a bubble. It ain't exactly factory HRC looking but they say it was supposed to be better in the wind tunnel, so take a look at it.

Q. What effect has the tyre choice restriction had on your practice so far?

NH: I started the afternoon session with a used tyre, front and rear. I only really have two front tyres here, and one tyre that I liked here testing I had a lot of chatter with it on the front this time. So, I can't say it has really affected me a whole lot. I have tried three different rear tyres and it is quite a bit hotter here than when we did the test. Not a lot but enough hotter to change a few things. If anything it has given us more time to focus on race set-up.

Sometimes you get to a track like here where you need to try a lot of tyres quick because you have got so many options. We tested here and I don't think you are really going to see that tyre rule (make a difference) until we go to Turkey. Jerez and here both, we tested here three days not long ago so had a pretty good idea of what tyre we needed to be on. But when we get to Turkey that is going to be a lot different.

Q. Some people say that last year's tyres were so perfect but they only worked in a very narrow temperature band. Do you think Michelin have still got to widen their working range?

NH: Well, obviously the tyres are going to need to work in a wider range. It is not like you have so many options. You have got to cover the board. They have got to have one tyre almost as a safety tyre here, in case in really does get hot on Sunday. Then you almost need one the other way, in case it gets real cold or whatever - or the track gets really dirty. You need something that is suitable for all conditions.

Here it looks pretty stable, but going somewhere like Donington Park where it could be really cold on race day or something, there could be an issue - and there's no disrespect to your English weather.

Q. You have talked about the front-end feel and after your crashes here, do you think you are a bit down on confidence?

NH: Yeah, I would be lying to you guys if I said I was on top of the world. I am 16th. I went quite a bit faster this afternoon than I did this morning, although my position is not that much better. So sure, I don't have what I want on the front. I didn't have it when I was here testing and I was just trying to ride through it, ride through it - and I ended up on the ground twice. I didn't want to do that again today and really take a step back - but tomorrow it might be the next choice.

Q. What do you think of the 16-inch tyre?

NH: I have liked it every time I have used it. It has not really helped my lap time too much. I clearly liked it. And I made really sure, because we were in Malaysia and Phillip Island. It's not like I tried it once and then went away with it. I have tried it a lot.

Q. What do you like about it?

NH: It just helps the turn in. There is more feel. You can trail brake a little bit deeper, but like I said - it helps my lap time a little bit but not substantially.

Q. Have you got a front tyre that is mega soft for qualifying?

NH: I have, yeah.

Q. So might the thing chatter when there is even more grip?

NH: That's why I went slower on my qualifier because I had a lot of chatter. But we had a lot of time at Jerez during that 40-minute session to work on some stuff just for qualifying.

Q. Do you think it might not chatter tomorrow?

NH: We will see. There (Jerez) we made it better, so we will see here.