MotoGP 2020

The messy divorce continues.

DOVIZIOSO CONSIDERING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST DUCATI​


Andrea Dovizioso’s departure from the Ducati MotoGP team could become even messier, with bombshell rumours in the paddock suggesting that he is considering legal action against the manufacturer.

And the action would not be anything to do with the collapse of their contract talks, but over Ducati’s stance towards Yamaha’s recent engine penalty.

The Race’s sources in the paddock have already made it clear that Dovizioso has been left deeply unhappy with Ducati’s handling of last weekend’s penalty against Yamaha for illegally modifying its engines at the opening round of the 2020 season at Jerez.
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Attempt at a summary:

  • Yamaha used illegal valves at the opening round of the season, for which they were recently penalised. However, only the teams were penalised and not the riders.
  • The other 5 teams came to a gentleman's agreement that neither of them, nor any of their riders, would push for further penalties if Yamaha agreed to accept the initial sanctions against them, which Yamaha did. The belief in the paddock is that Ducati was behind the agreement.
This is interesting because had the Yamaha riders been sanctioned along with the team, Quartararo and Vinales would've been stripped of their points at the opening round and Dovi handed the win. Dovi would also be sitting 2nd in the championship as a result. The win along with a higher standing in the championship would've netted Dovi hundreds of thousands of Euros in bonus and prize money from Ducati, sponsors and the FIM.

The theory is Ducati never pushed to sanction the Yamaha riders to spite Dovi and now Dovi wants to take them to court because of this.
 
Last edited:
thestaggy said:
The messy divorce continues.

DOVIZIOSO CONSIDERING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST DUCATI​




Attempt at a summary:

  • Yamaha used illegal valves at the opening round of the season, for which they were recently penalised. However, only the teams were penalised and not the riders.
  • The other 5 teams came to a gentleman's agreement that neither of them. nor any of their riders would push for further penalties if Yamaha agreed to accept the initial sanctions against them, which Yamaha did. The belief in the paddock is that Ducati was behind the agreement.
This is interesting because had the Yamaha riders been sanctioned along with the team, Quartararo and Vinales would've been stripped of their points at the opening round and Dovi handed the win. Dovi would also be sitting 2nd in the championship as a result. The win along with a higher standing in the championship would've netted Dovi hundreds of thousands of Euros in bonus and prize money from Ducati, sponsors and the FIM.

The theory is Ducati never pushed to sanction the Yamaha riders to spite Dovi and now Dovi wants to take them to court because of this.
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Its so messy.... damn

Sad to see it end this way
 
What a great Q2. Really thought Brad was in with a shout at pole but ultimately having to go through Q1 and chewing up his other soft rears came back to bite. Still P9 is no mean achievement.
 
Agent_Smith said:
What a great Q2. Really thought Brad was in with a shout at pole but ultimately having to go through Q1 and chewing up his other soft rears came back to bite. Still P9 is no mean achievement.
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Franco is my new fave rider, now that Dovi is on his way out
 
Agent_Smith said:
And to think he's on inferior equipment to his other three Yamaha teammates. He deserves better.
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The 2019 bike is actually better than the 2020 model or at the very least no worse. Fabio wants to use it next year.

Early in the season Fabio said it was harder to ride than the 2019 version. Rossi said there was potential for it to be better.

“In the morning, we didn’t have a good feeling with the bike, on braking, cornering, power delivery,” he said.

“It was one of the hardest practices of my GP career. The bike wasn’t so good.

“It’s not like 2019 when people said that the Yamaha was an easy bike to ride.

“For me, the Yamaha this year is much more difficult to ride than last year.

“Everyone will need to change their opinion that it’s an easy and familiar bike for a rookie.” - Fabio
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“I don’t feel a lot of difference, but the 2020 bike is a lot younger and maybe we need some more time and some more kilometres to fix the settings properly,” said Rossi.

“My feelings and my problems with the bike so far are very similar to last year, with the grip and the temperature of the rear tyre.” - Vale
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the-race.com

Quartararo says new Yamaha harder to ride; Rossi not so sure - The Race

Petronas Yamaha racer Fabio Quartararo feels the new 2020 Yamaha M1 MotoGP machine is a lot more difficult to ride than last year’s bike
the-race.com the-race.com

Both have now changed their tunes in recent interviews. The bike is a huge disappointment.

"I'm worried but I'm hoping to see if we can use last year's bike, if that's possible or if we have to keep exactly the same one as this year,” Quartararo said when asked about the engine freeze.

“But what is certain is that we have to change a lot of things in the way we work, not really in the team but in general with Yamaha."
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au.sports.yahoo.com

Quartararo wants to use 2019 Yamaha in next MotoGP season

Fabio Quartararo wants to see if it will be possible for him to race the 2019 Yamaha MotoGP bike in 2021 after a tough year on the 2020 M1.
au.sports.yahoo.com au.sports.yahoo.com

"We had a lot of expectations for this 2020 bike, because we were told that Yamaha had worked hard, that the engine would give us more speed and that the bike would be clearly better," Rossi said on Friday at the Valencia GP.

"Instead, we are in the penultimate and we still have to understand if the new bike is better than the old.

"This means that they [the 2019 and 2020 M1s] are more or less the same, then on some tracks one is better and some other tracks the other is better.

"What is certain is that there has not been the performance step we expected to be competitive."
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www.autosport.com

Rossi still doesn’t know if 2020 Yamaha better than 2019 MotoGP bike

Valentino Rossi admits he and Yamaha 'still have to understand' if the 2020 MotoGP M1 is actually better than last year's version with just two rounds of the season left
www.autosport.com www.autosport.com
 
So let me see if I have this straight...

Last weekend at Valencia, a crash at the front of the pack during the opening laps gave Raul Fernandez, and only Raul Fernandez, a one second gap.

This weekend at Valencia, a crash at the front of the pack during the opening laps gives Raul Fernandez, and only Raul Fernandez, a one second gap.
 
One last hectic weekend, then we start waiting for testing, news on MM93 and all the action to start again
 
Thrilling Q2 to end 2020. So happy to see Cal Crutchlow up there. Would love to have seen him sign off his MotoGP career on the front row but still a good performance. Should be a mal race!
 
Great ride and win by Oliveira... Totally dominated the race. So chuffed for Franco on his 2nd in the championship and being the best Yamaha rider (on old machinery too)

Also what an end to Moto2, Marini was so near
 
Quite incredible that Ducati won the constructor's championship.

Ducati wins the 2020 MotoGP Constructors' championship​


Ducati returns to victory in the constructors' MotoGP World Championship! After 13 years, Ducati returns to win the title of MotoGP Constructors World Champion for 2020. Five riders have brought precious points to reaching this important milestone. The MotoGP season that just ended has been very difficult in many respects, but thanks to the passion, to the great commitment of the teams and the performance on track of the Desmosedici GPs we achieved two victories and six podiums that led to the title of MotoGP 2020 Constructors World Champion.
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One thing I found interesting was the plight of Yamaha (and Ducati for that matter). The 2019 spec bikes in both camps seemed to be the better option. Why didn't the factory outfits revert back to those bikes for their main teams? Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha & Miller on the Pramac Ducati were leagues ahead of their factory squad mates. Were the factory teams simply not allowed to dust off the old spec bike?
 
Agent_Smith said:
One thing I found interesting was the plight of Yamaha (and Ducati for that matter). The 2019 spec bikes in both camps seemed to be the better option. Why didn't the factory outfits revert back to those bikes for their main teams? Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha & Miller on the Pramac Ducati were leagues ahead of their factory squad mates. Were the factory teams simply not allowed to dust off the old spec bike?
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A very curious case indeed... maybe there was something in the regulations or maybe not wanting to be seen as a failed bike in totality?
 
As if often the case with F1 tracks, we had a procession and an extremely tightly matched field with nobody really able to eke out any meaningful advantage, bar Miguel on race day who had amazing Lorenzo-esque rhythm and also won the tyre lottery.

This was disappointing given how exciting the track appears to ride as with Phillip Island for instance.

Was Binder a crash or mechanical? I was watching at that Ridgeway motorsport bar and the audio was diabolical.
 
Agent_Smith said:
One thing I found interesting was the plight of Yamaha (and Ducati for that matter). The 2019 spec bikes in both camps seemed to be the better option. Why didn't the factory outfits revert back to those bikes for their main teams? Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha & Miller on the Pramac Ducati were leagues ahead of their factory squad mates. Were the factory teams simply not allowed to dust off the old spec bike?
Click to expand...

Miller rode a 2020-spec GP20. Zarco and Rabat were riding the year-old GP19s. Why Miller performed better is likely down to the way the Ducati responded to the new tyres. The way the Ducati had to be ridden changed with the new tyres and it seems as if none of the other Ducati riders could adapt as well as Miller could. We also have to look at the commitment and motivation of Dovi and Petrux, who were both leaving the team. I don't think the factory team had a very productive atmosphere this year with those two.

In the case of the Yamahas, regulations likely prevented Rossi/Quartararo/Vinales from switching back to the 2019-spec bike. The updated 2020 engine would not fit in the 2019 frame and seeing as riders are allocated engines for a season, once they took their allocated 2020 engines there was no way they could swap out for 2019 engines.

The condensed and Covid-affected season would've also hampered further development of the 2020 Yamahas and Ducatis as they sought to iron out their issues. Question marks over Lorenzo as the Yamaha test rider as well. Rumours are Lorenzo wasn't in the best physical shape (overweight) and people within the team felt he wasn't really committed to the role, so they sacked him and have hired Crutchlow for 2021.
 
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