Here, our colleagues from Motorsport.com raised the issue of Davide Brivio's departure towards the sparkling world of Formula 1.
At the same time, while everyone was waiting for a official reaction from the person concerned or the Suzuki Ecstar team finally occurred this morning, the latter released an interview with the Italian team manager who reveals to us, among other things, his rather elaborate superstitions. The F1 world has been warned!
Davide Brivio : " I have never been superstitious, but after several years in this profession, I have become a little more! This year again, I got into a habit that could also be mistaken for paranoia... I numbered all the polo shirts in my team uniform from 1 to 5 and, every day, I wore them in an order strict: number 1 on Wednesday, number 2 on Thursday and so on, so that every Sunday I always wore number 5. It turns out that the bike Joan used in the European GP, where he won the world championship, was also number 5, the JM5. Another thing I started doing this year, and I like to think it was sort of destiny, was wearing my Lakers shirt. I'm a huge basketball fan, and in honor of Kobe Bryant, who passed away earlier this year, I started wearing my Lakers jersey a lot more often. I decided to wear it during our race weekends, but obviously at the tracks we use the team uniform, so I wore it as pajamas instead. It turns out the Lakers won the NBA title and we won the MotoGP World Championship, so maybe it was just a matter of fate. »
« I have always believed, and I try to teach this to my children too, that when you do something with a lot of commitment and passion, it usually works out well. It's me who has the honor of speaking on behalf of the Team and appearing on television, but behind me is a group of great people who have worked very hard for this title. When we returned to MotoGP six years ago, we started from scratch and decided to focus on people who had a very strong motivation to work at Suzuki. It was a choice from the start. We had to give a special atmosphere to our team, not only for the drivers, but also for everyone who worked for us. Everyone on this team works here because they strongly believe in the project. Engineers, mechanics and all other team members. Being part of Team Suzuki Ecstar must be an ambition, not a stopgap. We have therefore been able to create a group which is a catalyst for everyone's engagement as best as possible. The result is that both drivers and members of both teams motivated each other. They fought on the track in a sporting, correct and respectful manner, each pushing the other. We really felt like one team, so much so that in the final group photo, all members of Rins' team and Alex himself wore the special celebration t-shirt for Mir. This is not something that goes without saying, on the contrary, it is a great achievement that we have achieved as a team; we kept a close bond between all members. I hope it lasts as long as possible, now that we have achieved it during a very difficult and competitive year. »
« When we started the season at Jerez for the Spanish GP, Joan got off to a good start and I remember that, by Friday evening, the guys on her side of the garage started to get a little excited: "We have a good pace, we are fast, we will be really strong on Sunday! »… then the race was a disaster. Less than a week later, still in Jerez, the same comments started again and the race was not great. After those two or three episodes, I talked to the guys to try to calm them down. “You have to be calmer: before thinking about victories or podiums, you have to consolidate your performances. Start getting steadily closer to the podium, fourth or fifth, then try to go higher.” I also told Joan something similar: “Everyone has their time, it may take a few more months, but with work and perseverance we will get there, stay calm, don't overdo it …”.
The next race was in Austria and what did he do? Second place! “Good job guys, good job Joan, you gave me the best answer you could have given me!” »
They knew what they were capable of, the excitement was there, and they just had to stay calm and believe that the results would come. This is what they did, with excellent consistency, and here we are world champions. »
Source and photo credits: suzuki-motogp.com
