High speed corners
"Apart from that, we have a summer day, tomorrow we might have a winter's day - you never know. This is where we will try to work in a good way to try and fight against Yamaha and Suzuki.
"I think they've a bike that works very well here, very stable in the high speed corners. It'll be tough to beat them but we'll try," the Spaniard added.
Milestone man
Rossi, on the other side of the spectrum of experience, spoke next. 400 is quite a milestone, and 'The Doctor' thinks the place is a good one to play host.
"It's a long, long time; a long road. It's good to hit the 400 here in Phillip Island. It's an iconic place for MotoGP, all the riders love the circuit because it's something special compared to the rest. So it's one of the best places. We pray, everybody prays for a weekend here like this, the blue sky and the fantastic weather, but unfortunately the good weather arrived too much in anticipation so we'll have to fight the weather in Phillip Island but anyway, it's a pleasure."
Comeback man
The Grand Prix weekend also sees a familiar face making a return: Zarco. The Frenchman makes the first of his three appearances replacing Takaaki Nakagami at the Island.
"The smile is there! It's difficult to set a target. I want to clear all the feelings I got this year. I started well in MotoGP the first two years, but this year has been really complicated, so it seemed it was finished - my MotoGP story - but Lucio called me to take these three races, and yes I'm taking it because maybe it's my last three races. I took a big risk this summer stopping my contract for 2020, and now I can realise that racing is what I want to do. I've a short future at the moment but I can live it with a lot of intensity and that's what I wanted to do."
Independent riders
Quartararo, meanwhile, arrives having already been crowned Rookie of the Year, and he's now gunning for the honour of top Independent - against Jack Miller.
"I think the Yamaha suits this track really well but we will see about the conditions. It's a track that I really like, fast corners, the Yamaha looks good, so we'll do our best and our best will be good enough."