After a long wait due to numerous television interviews, the first three drivers of this 2016 French Grand Prix presented themselves in the conference room to debrief their race and answer questions from journalists.
As usual and to avoid any approximate interpretation of them, we exclusively offer you a “raw” translation of all of their responses, starting with those of Jorge Lorenzo.
Jorge Lorenzo: “Yes, a perfect day and almost a perfect weekend since it's the first time I've taken pole position here in MotoGP.
Before the race we knew that we had a good chance of winning it, but we had to wait a bit to see what could happen after the Moto2 race, since sometimes the Dunlop tires make the track a little more slippery. And sometimes, this added to a full tank, makes it difficult to brake the bike and get the best grip everywhere on the track. And that's what happened at the beginning; I had a lot of problems braking the loaded bike, and that's perhaps why Iannone was able to more or less stabilize the gap (with me) then recover a few meters.
But the key to the race was that when the bike got lighter, I was and rode better and better. From then on, the race turned around and I gradually improved my times, then I was able to escape and widen this gap of 5 seconds before Marquez and Dovi fell.
So when Rossi was 7 seconds away, I was able to breathe a little more, but not too much because I wanted to keep a high pace and not lose concentration.
So a perfect day, especially compared to the championship; before this race, Marquez made no mistakes and was leading. Conversely, the Yamaha riders had fallen, for my part in Argentina and Rossi in Austin.
So in a way, it’s like we’re starting from scratch for the next races.”
You had an excellent pace during this race…
“Yes, the bike was excellent, as were the tires. I think Michelin did a nice, quick and hard job to resolve the problem we had in Jerez. In particular, the tire gave us a little more grip in its central area, and it had more or less the same performance throughout the race.
As I told you, I wanted to be able to maintain a “big 33” rhythm and not change trajectories, not be a little too relaxed to avoid missing a trajectory or making a stupid mistake and falling.”
Next stop at Mugello where you won last year…
"Yes. We arrive at Mugello leading the championship with these 5 points advantage. It's a circuit that I love, probably my favorite circuit because I can take advantage of my strengths and my qualities there.
Of course, with the long straight, the Ducatis will be there, especially since it's the circuit where they spend the most time testing. But at the moment, with the mistakes of their two drivers, they don't really count for the championship, so we have to compare ourselves to Marc and Rossi instead.
To get there leading the championship is excellent.”
Do you remember your first MotoGP podium and what can you say to Maverick?
“Luckily, my first podium came very quickly, during my first MotoGP race. So this was a big surprise for me because I didn't expect to be so competitive; I took pole position in Qatar and finished second behind Stoner. It's as if it was “too much” because I was not prepared for this kind of experience, nor, psychologically, to maintain this level throughout the year.
But it's great, a great feeling, and I thought then that I could do it more times than I ended up doing.
Maverick finally showed that he is a rider who can finish on the podium with a bike that is not the best, even if the Suzuki is good. He may have been helped by the falls of Dovizioso and Marquez, but you have to be there and seize the opportunity. If you compare his race result to that of his teammate, he is much faster, so he absolutely deserves this podium.”
We didn't see a lot of overtaking. Is this due to the arrival of Michelin?
“In my opinion, this could be one of the reasons. With the Michelins you have to work more on the settings and you can create a difference through the settings and your riding, especially in a long race. This is why the gaps between the top positions can be huge or larger than in the past. With the Bridgestones everything was tighter and you couldn't tell much difference with the settings or your riding style. Now there is also the fact that the performance of the drivers varies a lot, from circuit to circuit.”
In Jerez, you criticized Michelin. Are you impressed by their improvements today?
“Critical, no; I'm just used to speaking the truth and what I think. If I think the tires need work, I'm telling the truth because it's important they understand they need work. And they did it! Its very important.
Sometimes, in the past, you complained about certain aspects of the tire, and the reaction did not come, or very late. With Michelin, even if they have the monopoly on tires for the championship, they want to improve their tires, they want to provide us with the best tires, and that is why I congratulate them, yesterday and also today.
Even if; obviously, we still have to work on the tires; on the back straight, the central part of the tire was slipping a little, but it had nothing to do with the feeling in Jerez.”
There were a lot of falls today. Do you have any idea why?
“I think at the moment, with the Michelins, you don't control your bike 100%. The bike moves more, especially with the rear; you have a lot of movement coming out of the corner. When braking, it's better; They have improved a lot with this new front tire, compared to the beginning, but the bike is still not as stable as with the Bridgestones. With these, the bike usually slipped more when accelerating, but it was more stable and moved less.
So yes, sometimes it's more physical and you have to concentrate more not to make a mistake, because the bike can become unstable if you brake a little bit too late, or a little bit too hard. So it's not simple.
On bumps you feel them more.
It's a different style and you have to get used to it because we've been with the same tires for a long time in the past, so it's not that simple. But we are well on our way to having the best tires for all drivers.”
Do you have any idea what happened to Dovizioso and Marquez?
“No, when I was racing I saw both bikes on the outside of turn #5; Marc returned to the track while Andrea's bike was in the gravel. I thought they were hanging on. But in the end, it was explained to me that they had fallen at the same time. I don't know. Perhaps the one following was a little surprised and made a movement that resulted in the fall. But I don’t know.”
