After giving us his point of view on the meteoric arrival of Fabio Quartararo in MotoGP in the first part of this interview, Christian, World Champion in 1984 on a 250 Yamaha, talks to us here about Marc Márquez, Johann Zarco and others.
In the first part of this interview, Christian explained to us all the good things he thought about fabio quartararo. He also mentioned the possible possibility that El Diablo might have been able to achieve roughly equivalent results, or perhaps better, on another bike: the Ducati.
Christian, isn't the Desmosedici known to be more difficult to ride than the Yamaha?
“I have noticed in my career that difficult bikes often perform well. Or more accurately, putting this point of view the other way around, performance motorcycles are often very difficult to ride. »
“I can take the example, at the time of Mick doohan, of the screamer* engine that he was the only one who still wanted to use in the Grand Prix. It was perhaps a slightly more efficient engine than the Big Bang engines, but it was the only one who could really drive these machines to the limit. »
*The screamer engine has distant explosions, the Big Bang engine conversely has close explosions.
“I was able to realize this precisely because I drove this type of 4-cylinder 500 two-stroke machine at the time. The screamer in particular was difficult to master. »
“If the driver has the mentality and the technique, he can manage to get through it. This is the example of Marc Márquez on the handlebars of the Honda. And on top of that, if he technically manages to master this difficulty, he will ask that his machine evolve to even more difficulty to have even more performance. This will not be the case for a driver who is a little less technically good. »
“That’s why the difference has widened. We already saw it at the time of Dani Pedrosa who complained a little about the difficulty of the Honda. But it was a difficulty that Marc Márquez managed to master and control, which gave him a little more performance. A pilot who fails to do so will find himself handicapped. It all depends on the pilot…”
Marc Márquez won his magnificent title this year with 12 victories. He is the only Honda driver in the top 8 of the Championship. Could he have won the World Championship on a bike from another brand, in your opinion?
“Yes, I’m sure of it. With a Ducati probably. With a Yamaha most likely. With a Suzuki, I think so too. And then I'm not going to get ahead of myself, because winning the World Championship on a KTM or Aprilia, maybe not, but possibly winning Grands Prix. »
The season of Johann zarco was twisted like hell, with KTM, then 3 races without riding, then 3 GP with Honda. Finally he refused a place as a test rider at Yamaha to be one of the 2020 Ducati riders at Avintia in 5, but on a Desmosedici 2019. What do you think of his career?
“I think Johann unfortunately had a mental breakdown. He chose to go to KTM and we can't blame him. It was a choice he made. A choice that proved difficult, very difficult for him. »
“I never felt comfortable on that machine. Perhaps he then made mistakes. His mind took a hit very quickly and he found himself in a negative gear where he was no longer able to drive as he wanted, where he criticized the machine, which obviously did not please the team, 'especially since his teammate Pol Espargaró was almost systematically faster than him"
“All this really disturbed Johann who found himself in such a difficult situation that he preferred to give up riding this KTM during the season. I'm not going to explain his choices, neither that of going to KTM, nor that of stopping riding this machine, because it was he who made them and he has his reasons which I not going to argue. ".
And what do you think of the Ducati option for 2020?
“I think it’s not bad. Test driver implies that to race you have to wait until a regular driver gets injured. It's that or doing one or two wildcards, which still seems random for a driver in the middle of his career, because he was recently at the peak of his form. »
“He wants to race, and I think that being able to defend his chances over the entire championship is perhaps better for him. He will thus be able to show again what he is capable of to try to return to the forefront. »
“That's the option he chose, and when we see the performance of the Ducati, he might have the model from the year before, but everything will depend on the brand. If there is a huge evolution compared to the 2020 model from each manufacturer, it will necessarily be a small handicap. If the evolution among all brands is limited and moderate, ultimately it could perhaps do well. »
“If he performs well on a Ducati, it's a card to play because Andrea Dovizioso is consistent, but we don't really see how he could snatch a title from Marc Márquez. And the second driver of the official team Danilo Petrucci has still been very average this season. So Johann must say to himself “If I manage to show my skills and surprise aboard this 2019 Ducati, I might have a little more help from Ducati afterwards. »
Photos © Yamaha, Repsol Honda, motogp.com / Dorna
