Yamaha: Defeats made team stronger

Rossi took back-to-back titles in his first two seasons with Yamaha, but then lost the 2006 crown to Nicky Hayden when he crashed at the season finale at the end of a difficult season. Last year Rossi and his team had no answer to Casey Stoner and Ducati's dominance, and fell to third in the standings.

But in Japan today Rossi claimed his fifth consecutive race win, and his eighth of the season, to secure his fifth MotoGP world championship.

Team manager Davide Brivio said Yamaha had been fired up by the previous two years' frustrations and were determined to end their title drought this season.

"We kept saying during the winter that 2006 and 2007 made everybody stronger, much stronger," Brivio said.

"When you go through difficult moments, your relationship becomes stronger. We didn't want to be in that situation again, and this was a strong motivation for this year."

Rossi made a controversial switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres at the end of last season, while Yamaha made concerted efforts to recoup the horsepower deficit to Ducati.

"I think we were always very open and very correct in defining our problems last year, which were that the bike needed to be a bit faster (on the straights) and also we had some problems with the tyres," said Brivio.

Masao Furosawa, Yamaha's executive officer for motorcycle development, said the company also made major organisational changes in order to fight back after 2006 and 2007, with Furosawa himself getting more involved in Yamaha's racing programme.

"After the successful years in 2004 and 2005, we lost the championship for two years," said Furosawa.

"Some of it was mistakes by Valentino as he said, but most of the reason was the bike. I think the bike is just a tool for winning the championship, the rider is always controlling the machine. If something is wrong with the machine, the rider can hardly manage it.

"So I have some regrets about how we supported Valentino. My job is not only the racing, so in 2006 and 2007 I had to step aside from the racing. We also changed the organisation a little bit because we always need new engineers to be trained by racing.

"That was one of the things we talked about with Valentino. So I came back to the racing circuits more frequently and also we changed something in the organisation with engineering."

Brivio added that while Yamaha had undoubtedly produced a more competitive technical package for 2008, Rossi also deserved great credit for the team's resurgence.

"In the package the rider is also a very important part, and Valentino worked very hard during the winter," he said.

"He made a good development of his body as well. The full package was quite strong and very motivated at the beginning of the season.

"Even after five years working together, what he can deliver on the track is always a surprise. This year was another demonstration of how strong Vale is."