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“I’m absolutely certain that Valentino can win another Grand Prix but both the conditions and the bike has to be right on the day,” explained Freddie, who incredibly never stood on a Grand Prix podium again after his 27th Grand Prix victory, a 1985 500cc win in Sweden that brought him the historic 250/500 cc World Championship double. “He showed in Malaysia last year when he came so close but the key is he has to be in that leading pack right from the start of the race. I’m sure he can do it.”

The 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner who won the last of his 18 Grands Prix just three races before he retired in 1992 is also convinced Rossi can win another Grand Prix but warns the Italian that time is running out. “Vale has every chance but as time goes on it gets more difficult. This year we have seen more and more young riders arrive in the MotoGP™ class like Fabio Quartararo and they are only going to get better and so he’s got to do it soon.”

Phil Read knew all about winning Grands Prix. His 52 wins in the 125, 250, 350 and 500cc classes brought him seven World titles. His last Grand Prix win came in the 500cc class when he brought MV Agusta victory in 1975 at Brno in Czechoslovakia and he took a couple of podiums a year later before retiring.

“I think it’s likely because he’s so important to Yamaha but it will not be easy for a 40-year-old, especially against the likes of Marc Marquez who seems to be capable of riding at ten tenths the whole time.”

PS, I’ll let you into a little secret. I actually did not commentate on what many people reckon was Rossi’s greatest ever MotoGP™ win but I was there. Laguna Seca in 2008 and that epic Rossi/Stoner confrontation decided at the Corkscrew and I had completely lost my voice. All I could do was sit in silence at the back of the commentary box and marvel at the battle that raged in the Californian sunshine which was brilliantly described by Gavin Emmett and John Hopkins in my enforced absence.

Two heroes in a class of racing that produced truly remarkable tiny racing motorcycles that needed the delicate touch of a surgeon to ride to the limit. The 50cc ‘tiddler’ class started in 1962 and switched to 80cc 22 years later before leaving the Grand Prix scene in 1989. Don’t be fooled by their size, these machines were mechanical masterpieces ridden by a unique breed of riders.

This was not just a case of wind open the throttle to obtain maximum revs through a six-speed gearbox helped by traction control, rev limiters and other electrical aids but a balancing act of precision while keeping the tiny engine buzzing at well over 20,000 revs per minute through a gearbox that often had 12 selections. Keeping those revs within a 500 rpm band was the touch of the master. Let it drop below that vital red line on the rev counter and the power would drop away like an electric plug had been pulled out of its socket. Going above that red line and it likely the overworked motor would cry enough and seize. While completing this delicate balance of throttle control with eyes glued to that red line rev the riders also had to race at top speeds over 100mph on skinny tyres and tiny drum brakes.

No wonder it produced legendary World Champions such as Angel Nieto, Jorge Martinez, Heinz George Anscheidt and of course Dorflinger. In Great Britain, it also provided the racing starting point for many a champion in the making including the likes of Mike Hailwood and Bill Ivy cutting their racing teeth on 50cc single cylinder Italian Items. Barry Sheene is the only rider to have won a 50cc and premier class (500cc) Grand Prix. Short of money to fund his 125cc title bid in 1971 he rode the Kreidler to 50cc victory round the old Brno road circuit in Czechoslovakia.

Two–strokes dominated apart from one year when Honda build an amazing twin-cylinder four-stroke 50cc machine. They were rewarded with the 1965 World title on a machine that was reported to have a 22,500 rev limit. The year Ralph Bryans won the title I went to the Isle of Man to watch my first ever World Championship race. It was day trip to the Island and the highlight was the first 500cc clash between Hailwood and Agostini riding the MV Agustas on the mountain circuit. Before the main event was the three lap 50cc race and it was a sight and sound I will never forget. I lost count but I reckoned the riders changed down eight times racing down the mountain to Creg Ny Baa before disappearing towards Brandish changing up eight times to reach maximum speed – riders with the precise touch of a surgeon.

Both Jacque and Zarco arrived in the Premier class as 250 and Moto2™ World Champions respectively but it’s been a very different route for Quartararo with a more than a few big bumps in the road on the way. I remember meeting and interviewing him for the first time at Le Mans in 2014. The French media and commentators, which included 250cc World Champion and 500cc Grand Prix winner Christian Sarron, were raving about a young Frenchman who’d just turned 15-years-old and the record books agreed with their patriotic excitement. He was well on course for his second FIM Junior Championship and a place was already being prepared for the teenager from Nice in the Moto3™ World Championship. Quartararo made a much-heralded debut in Qatar less than a year later while still 15-years-old. Despite a couple of second places in Austin and Assen he eventually finished tenth in his debut season, but injuries and machine problems pushed him down to 13th the year after.

He was growing fast and joined Sito Pons in the Moto2™ class in 2017. Pons told me despite the Moto3™ problems he thought the young Frenchman was a potential World Champion. It didn’t work out with Sito but last season when he joined the Speed Up Moto2™ team, at last, all that potential and ability gelled into his first Grand Prix win in Barcelona, followed by a second place in Assen.

Despite those results, he was a surprise selection for the new Petronas Yamaha SRT team but his brilliant ride in the 24 lap race on Sunday showed just what a brave brilliant decision it had been. Following his first crash of the season in practice and an arm pump operation after Mugello, the 20-year-old Frenchman displayed maturity and skill well beyond a seven-race MotoGP™ career. While far more experienced others, who really should have known better, fell foul of the slippery condition Quartararo protected his rear tyre and took his chances when they came along.

He may not become the youngest ever premier class winner on Sunday but that first MotoGP™ win is not far away – how about Assen in a couple of weeks’ time?

MotoGP™ and all motorsport at any level are no different. Lap times, race strategy and tyre choice win races and World Championships but the most asked question by the public is just how fast do these bikes go?

Just how does it feel to be in charge (hopefully) of a motorcycle at that speed. It’s a sensation that the majority of us will never have the privilege of experiencing. The riders will tell you anything over 300 kph does not feel different although at Mugello, in particular, I don’t totally believe them. Having witnessed through the fingers covering my eyes Shinya Nakano and Marc Marquez walk away from separate frightening crashes coming over the Mugello rise between the safety walls you need no reminding just how fast they were travelling.

It’s always been the same in the 70-year history of Grand Prix racing. I remember the excitement when Shinchi Itoh was reported to have raced past the speed trap in practice for the 1993 German Grand Prix through the Hockenheim forests at over 200 mph (321.8 kph). Riding the fuel injected NSR 500cc Honda two-stroke it was the first time a speed of over 200 mph had been recorded. I had to check that it was his team-mate Daryl Beattie that won the race but I remembered Itoh because of that new record top speed.

Danilo Petrucci showed with that magnificent first Grand Prix win in front of his home crowd at Mugello on Sunday that the top speed of the Mission Winnow Ducati played its part in the triumph that proved a couple of other things. Never give up chasing your dream. It was Petrucci’s 124th Grand Prix race and nice guys can win the top prize. We always said that Danilo used to be a policeman but honestly, I can’t imagine him ever arresting anybody. Perhaps they put him in charge of the radar gun to check the top speed of the motorists, not that it would have registered team-mate Dovizioso’s 356.7 kph on Saturday morning. Even Danilo would have to have arrested him after that.

The youngest ever pole setter crown was the first to go when Frenchman Fabio Quartararo riding the Petronas SRT Yamaha pipped teammate Franco Morbidelli and Marquez for pole position in Jerez. I wanted to say teenager Quartararo, but he’d celebrated his 20th birthday just a couple of weeks earlier. It was still enough, however, to become the youngest ever MotoGP™ pole setter. Alongside him, teammate Morbidelli was a positively old 24-years-old while Marquez will soon be checking out his pension rights at 26-years-old.

The World Champion’s total domination of the race the next day put him at the top of the standings to put ‘the youngsters’ back in their place, but with Alex Rins second and Maverick Viñales third he was still the oldest rider on the podium.

Three weeks earlier, 23-year-old Rins won his first MotoGP™ race at Austin for Ecstar Suzuki with 24-year-old Jack Miller putting the Pramac Ducati on the podium. It was four years earlier Miller had jumped from the Moto3™ class, missing out Moto2™, to dive straight into the MotoGP™ melting pot.