Between Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati the end of the story will not end in general jubilation. But rather with the relief of leaving each other after a cohabitation imposed by mutual interest. With the latter taken out of the equation, all that remains are the bad sides. And there will have been many of them, starting with an esteem and a mutual understanding that events or exchanges have never made obvious. An epilogue which nevertheless recalls others at Ducati. So who, the driver or the manufacturer, has more responsibility in this divorce? A man from the inside responds…
Be a pilot at Ducati it always seems complicated whileAndrea Dovizioso leaves little room for improvisation, which can certainly create tension. A precipitate in the corner of a box which turns out to be unstable. How to approach this situation? With a man who experienced it up close. His name is Fabiano Sterlacchini and he knows what he is talking about: he was an engineer for more than seventeen years at Ducati, his last role was technical coordinator, a sort of right arm of Gigi Dall'Igna, and he left the red box at the end of 2019.
Fabiano Sterlacchini, clearly, distributes responsibility for failure fairly among Ducati et Dovizioso in the columns of the Gazzetta dello Sport. It starts with Ducati : " maybe it wasn't very smart to say goodbye to the two pilots »Says Sterlacchini . " I understand the logic of the market, but you risk a very negative atmosphere. Then at the base is the usual Ducati limit in the middle of the curve, with the new rear tire that has changed the balance of the bike ».
« The Ducati exploited the braking which made it possible to brake more at the rear without asking too much at the front. I notice on television that this doesn't happen anymore. So if you add technical problems to the motivation part, it's like combining glycerin with the rest of the acids: you create nitroglycerin ».
“A strong driver must have a different mind from Dovizioso”
And on the motivation side, he turns to Andrea Dovizioso : " Andrea reiterated that without solving the fundamental problems we would have gone nowhere ", remember Sterlacchini. " And this year the feeling was worse because of the tire. It's an implosive thing in a pilot's mind. Then I'm honest, a really strong driver must have a different mind than Andrea, he must stay calm and determined and overcome problems: sadness sometimes cages him. For me, the strong rider doesn't obsessively seek perfection, but the closed visor makes the difference. Like Stoner ».
He finishes : " we could see that a cycle was ending. Dovizioso won six races in 2017, then four, then two and one this year. When you run, everything weighs. Gaining half a second with technique is impossible, but if you add driver motivation you can progress. But it also works the other way: it's easy to go wrong, and the driver loses motivation ».
One everywhere the ball in the center therefore. Both parties nevertheless understood where their interest lay in separating. Andrea Dovizioso chose the sabbatical year while Ducati has revised its copy in terms of drivers, betting on youth in its recruitment…
