Rossi frustrated by tyre disadvantage

The Italian never featured in the battle at the front of the field, but he finished as the top Michelin runner as Bridgestone-shod bikes filled all three spots on the podium.

"This was the maximum that could be done," Rossi told Italia1. "I really had no grip from the start. Naturally we are very disappointed to race like this.

"It's very frustrating. We do our work to the end, but the difference in the tyres is embarrassing. They are in a different ballpark."

Rossi is now 44 points behind Casey Stoner in the riders' standings, and he admitted that he is not feeling confident at the moment.

"Unfortunately I wasted the good chance we had in Germany, but more than the 44 points I'm worried about the 30 seconds," he said. "Added to the 44 points, that makes me pessimistic as well."

Rossi added that he was not confident of making it to the end of the race, and he said that there was nothing more he could do to make the bike go faster.

"By riding well you can make up for the difference among bikes, but when you lose 30 seconds in 32 laps it's nine tenths per lap," he said.

"Stoner set some lap times that I wasn't able to beat even with the qualifying tyre, and there were three Bridgestone riders ahead of everyone.

"I tried to catch Melandri with 10 laps to go, but he was going twice as fast. In the spots where he would open the gas, we were still struggling to turn."

Yamaha team boss Davide Brivio added: "It's very simple - only Rossi and (Dani) Pedrosa, thanks to their talents, managed to stay a bit towards the front, while the others (on Michelins) were all having troubles."