30.Aug.2016, motogp.com 對猴王做了一個專訪，主要是針對後半賽季的目標及整個賽季表現。
“I have a great motivation because I want to try to win more races and to win the Championship because last year I was very very close,” says the rider from Tavullia. “The feeling was very bad, because I think that the end of last year was not fair. The first two or three weeks it was hard but after the Rally of Monza I returned to racing and in that moment I was like “OK, we forget.” You never forget, but you try to forget. The pressure and the energy that I gave last year was an extreme effort, because we arrived in the last race like this. And if you win, you recover some energy. If you lose, you don’t recover it. So, for me, I paid too much for last year.”-motogp.com
即使現在在面對今年後半賽季，並且目前積分差領先的馬馬克有53分之多，他依然不敢掉以輕心：
“It’s a shame because I have the potential to fight for this Championship,” explains the legend as he assesses the situation heading into the next race. “Because I was unlucky, and also because of my mistakes we are too far now from the top. If in Mugello the bike had not broken; if in Assen it had not rained I was very strong; if in Sachsenring it had not rained I could have fought for the victory… But if, if, if… We have the potential but unfortunately we don’t have enough points. So the target for the next races is to try staying at this level but especially try to bring home more points. With this amount of disadvantage, you cannot think about the future. I will try to do the maximum race by race but, you know, in the sport it’s never finished until it’s finished. So if we give up now, it’s better to stay at home.”
猴王坦承因為自己犯了太多的失誤，即便自己非常具有競爭力但事實就是擺在眼前—他和馬馬克的積分差距就是這麼大！所以現在必須專注在每一場賽事，除了保有現在的積分外，還要試著去慢慢縮減和馬馬克之間的差距。
「在MotoGP，還沒到最後一場比賽，那這一切就還是有希望；如果現在就放棄，還不如就待在家吧。」
