In finishing second to Honda’s Dani Pedrosa at Motegi last Sunday, Rossi added four more points to his lead over Lorenzo, which now sits at 18 with three grands prix remaining.

Lorenzo has been the pacesetter of late, and led comfortably in Japan before falling to third when tyre degradation hit.

While Rossi can seal the title by finishing second to Lorenzo in each race, he says that approach is not on his radar, especially given the threat presented by the Hondas of Pedrosa and reigning world champion Marc Marquez.

“It’s quite impossible,” he said of plotting that string of results.

“It’s very difficult that from now to the end, we arrive always first and second, because the two Hondas are very strong.

“In three races, we will have completely different conditions, three different types of tracks, so I never do these types of calculation – 99 per cent of the time, it doesn’t happen.

“We need to concentrate on Phillip Island and try to arrive in front of Jorge.

“This is the target, rather than making the calculation to arrive behind.”

Rossi admits he was “very worried” during the Motegi race when he was passed by Pedrosa for second, as Lorenzo led.

If the results stayed that way, the Italian’s lead would have been slashed to just five points, but Pedrosa went on to pass Lorenzo, with Rossi also getting ahead of his team-mate.

“In one moment, the race changed a lot,” he said. “The conditions were drying up and it’s a lot better with full wet than with the dry line because the wet tyres become very difficult, too soft.

“When Dani arrived I was very worried, because I knew he would beat me, but I didn’t know if he would get to Jorge, so losing another nine points like in Aragon would be difficult for the championship.

“So I tried to go with Dani, he had very good pace. I was able to do three or four laps very strong, arrive to Jorge and in that moment we had some problems with the tyres.

“We were very much at the limit, so taking these 20 points is so important for the championship and a four-point more advantage is good.”