The Monday after the Grand Prix in Valencia, Davide Brivio, the team manager of the Ecstar Suzuki team, gave a very long press conference to take stock of the 2016 season and shed light on his expectations for 2017.
As usual, we therefore offer you a full “raw” translation of his words, without any formatting or journalistic distortion.
And Rins compared to Zarco?
“We chose Rins in May or June and, what we thought then, we think now. He is young, talented, but of course it was a difficult choice. We spoke a lot with Zarco and offered him the chance to test the bike in Japan for two days, and he was good. He made a very good impression and I think he will be good tomorrow in the MotoGP test. But you have to make a choice and we decided Rins, and we still think now what we thought in June, but it has been difficult. We make a bet. »
You're talking about a problem in the rain. Where does this come from? Electronics, chassis, engine?
“Probably a little bit of everything. We can improve the electronics of course, and probably also the bike to generate more grip with the wet tires. This is something for our engineers to work on this winter and something we've asked them to think about. But working on the electronics and how the engine delivers its power will also be very important, so we will try to work to improve these different points. »
Is the rear tire a particular problem?
“No, not specifically. Actually, I think we were a bit unlucky from that point of view too, because we had four races in the rain, and I think our results could have been much better with only dry races. However, we must be satisfied. »
You have Tom who is the most experienced guy on your team (editor's note: Tom O'Kane, having worked until 2004 with Kenny Roberts, then Kenny Roberts junior before joining Suzuki with Vermulen and Bautista). Is this essential for you?
“Tom will continue to work for us. I can't explain too much, but he has a very important role in the background. He works on analyzes and tries to find the best way to analyze the data. We work a lot in this area, on how to use the information we collect during a race weekend in the best possible way. So his experience will be very useful for our engineers and in particular for our Japanese engineers at the factory. So he will continue and his experience will remain at Suzuki (laughs). »
You worked with Rossi and Vinales. How do you think Vinales will adapt on the Yamaha?
“I think he will be ready from the first race because he is very talented and intelligent. He knows what to do to be fast, and now I don't know the differences between Suzuki and Yamaha, but this kind of rider doesn't need too much time. I think he will be ready from the first race also because he is very ambitious, this is what he wants to do, and I expect him to be there. »
What is Maverick's character and how will he coexist with Valentino?
“I think he has the mindset of a champion. He just wants to win the championship. It's very clear to him and he works towards this goal. He may seem a little shy and doesn't talk much, but he knows what he wants and, like I said, he's very intelligent and shrewd. I'm sure he'll work on his side of the box and not worry about who's on the other side. Of course, I think it will be helpful for him to have a fast rider on the other side, like Valentino, because he won't be able to relax. He has a clear goal to achieve, he will probably be able to learn a lot. »
Next year you will only have 7 engines instead of 9. Is this a problem?
“I hope it won't be a problem (laughs). I mean we work with that already in mind, even before we lost the concessions, because we knew, we hoped, that sooner or later this would happen. So we took the advantage of being a little more relaxed this year with 9 engines, but knew that shouldn't be the goal. Let's say that this year, with 9 engines, we had the advantage of being able to introduce an evolution of the engine and to have more possibilities. You didn't need to go to the end of the mileage. With 7 engines you have to freeze development, and the question doesn't arise. With 9 engines you have a greater chance of introducing development. That was the only small advantage. »
Will your bike suit Andrea Iannone's riding style?
“That’s something we’ll start to understand tomorrow. We think the rider probably sometimes adapts his style to the bike as well. So I think Andrea probably has a different style (from Vinales) because he had to ride a different bike, and if he wanted to use the full potential of his bike, he probably had to adapt his style as well. In Moto2, Andrea's style was undoubtedly much closer to that of Maverick or Marc (Marquez). So it depends on the bike and I think Andrea is smart and experienced enough to try to adapt his style to the Suzuki and extract the best potential from it. But we are also here, ready to do everything we can to meet his requests. »
How big is the development department at Suzuki?
“You mean competitive term? I don't know how many people actually work there. We are very happy with the work our guys are doing. They obviously work really hard. We are asking them for a lot of effort but we are very happy with the work they have done. So let's say we are at maximum development speed. Of course you can always do better and better, but last year, the first year, we arrived with a bike that was already very good chassis-wise but we had a lack of power. The maximum speed was not sufficient; the engine wasn't powerful enough and we had problems on the long straights because the other drivers could overtake us while we couldn't. Once we determined this goal, they did an extraordinary job last winter, starting with improving the engine power and then introducing the seamless transmission. And that allowed us to be more competitive this year.
Now we asked them for a little more power because of course the others will improve, and they have, they are working on it and we are on schedule. We'll see because, like I said, the closer you get to the head and the higher the ambitions, the harder the job. But at the moment we are happy with our competition department and the way they are developing. »
