The start of the season was not very favorable to Suzuki, notably with the injury suffered by Alex Rins. The Japanese manufacturer is currently fifth in the brand ranking, ahead of Aprilia, but behind KTM. His official team is eighth out of eleven in the team classification. According to Charles Pernat, the disappointment would be caused by Joan Mir.
“Suzuki has a driver problem. I think if he had a machine gun in his hands, Davide Brivio would shoot them” explained Pernat to Paolo Scalera and Matteo Aglio of GPOne.com.
“Rins is not physically fit, while Mir has shown that he is not the driver Davide wanted. Joan must learn to ride like Alex. We expect more from him, the bike is capable of getting on the podium. It's disappointing and it's the drivers' fault. »
Will Brno be a key race for Valentino Rossi who still has to decide his future?
“Brno will be a key race for Valentino. After the first race in Jerez, I saw that he was tired, he also thought about quitting. In the Czech Republic we will see what Vale is really worth. »
“If he finishes in the top 5, he will sign the contract for next year. He waits to clarify his ideas; he is 41 years old and what is the point for him to continue to rank in 8th or 9th place? »
“I want to be a little provocative. If I had been at Yamaha I would have left Rossi in the factory team and Quartararo at Petronas, so they would not have had the problem of technical teams for both riders. »
Luca Marini in MotoGP?
“Three years ago, in Misano, I went to dinner with Marini's father because he wanted me to be his manager. I thought about it a bit and reluctantly said no, because Luca is a nice driver, fast and consistent. »
“Could there be a place for him at Pramac? If I were Ducati, I would wait 3 more Grands Prix to see what happens in Moto2. There would also be Bastianini, the door is still open to him. I know they were talking about Zarco, but now that option seems to have cooled a bit. »
Andrea Dovizioso's future at Ducati?
“Ducati will decide the riders of the two teams for next year, the official one and Pramac, by mid-August. I want to be honest, today I have the impression that there is a one in two chance that Dovizioso stays and another one in two that there is no renewal and that Andrea retires, and that would be really bad. »
“The reality is that Ducati does not have confidence in Dovizioso. At Jerez 2, Andrea had one of his worst races, but he rode with a collarbone that hurt, even though he's a gentleman and he doesn't say it, and he doesn't have confidence in himself . »
“His statements were clear, he said you don't use GPs for testing, that means there is some battle with Dall'Igna. Today I would say this is a relationship destined to end, but I hope I'm wrong. There is a lot of silence on both sides and that is never a good sign, it means there are problems. »
Photos © Suzuki
