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Valentino Rossi says he is a Yamaha MotoGP team-mate Maverick Vinales makes it more difficult for him to manage rear-tire wear.
Rossi is 10cm taller than Vinales, who is 171cm, and is also heavier than his team-mate.
But Rossi said the height difference is a bigger issue, as he has less freedom to shift his body around the Michelin bike to ease the pressure on his Michelin tires.
"Some [of the] "It's not a lot, I'm a little bit more heavy," said Rossi, one of Phillip Island winner Vinales.
"When you are long and tall, it's more difficult [to preserve] the rear-tire life. You have some other advantage but it looks like you stress the rear tire more.
"You have to work with the position of the bike and everything, because of this tire.
"It's also true that Maverick has a different position on the bike – it's over the front, especially with the top of the body.
"This is a difference, but I am going to have a little bit."
Rossi and Vinales, whose Phillip Island win ended Yamaha's 25-race wait for a victory, ended up in Suzuki pacesetter Alex Rins.
The Italian said Yamaha had worked on modifying his bike from Phillip Island to improve his grip and he was happy with the changes.
"I was very fast this morning and this afternoon," he said.
"After checking the data in Phillip Island we worked a lot on the setting of the bike, we tried to improve the grip, especially on the rear tire.
"We modified the set-up, the balance of the bike and we tried to have less speed and better acceleration.
"The first impression is positive because I was good on the hot lap [race] pace is not so bad.
"It's just Friday, we have to see, but the start was not so bad."
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