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by Giorgio Bureddu
“The point is not being angry with a person. The point is I'm starting thirteenth on the grid tomorrow. Holy shit”.
Andrea Dovizioso might be holding nothing back, but he also sees the mist coming down on his Aragon GP. And, who knows, maybe even on this messed-up world championship. He pulls no punches, and how could he? The world championship title is at stake. Whose fault is it? Danilo Petrucci’s?
“Yes, I'm angry because it was a very difficult weekend for the conditions we found here, it was very cold, the tyres bla bla bla. But we were calm after this morning’s accident, I think we worked very well in the afternoon ".
Then something went wrong, Petrucci found himself in front of him and he didn't qualify in Q1. He went back to the garage, throwing his glove, swearing, a painful moment...
Dovizioso: "It wasn’t Ducati’s fault today. Danilo is a smart person, there was no need to talk to him"
"I'm disappointed because I don't think Danilo did the right thing but - Dovizioso talks about a "human not a sporting" disappointment - because he thought about bringing home the best".
Dovizioso’s drama is one that takes place at full speed. There is something tragic in this story, a sort of stab in the back that he did not expect from Petrucci…
Dovizioso: "If you only think about doing your best, you do what Petrucci did"
“When you get to a certain point it is right to have certain thoughts and set yourself up in a certain way. With someone as intelligent as Danilo there was no need for Ducati to say anything. I find it hard to justify Ducati on their strategies, they have a past. What happened today was not a limitation on Ducati's part. He didn't hinder me so I had the opportunity to do my laps, he did it correctly. But you use your brain in those moments there. Easy. If you only think about riding, you do what he did. I expected something different from him”.
Something different but, says Dovizioso, "that doesn't mean letting me get in front, I've never asked for that."
Something that would have at least given him the chance of having a less tricky race, a bit smoother even if still very complicated…
Dovizioso: "You judge behaviour based on what happens, I didn't like it"
“I'm a tranquil guy, I bear no grudges, I don't point my finger or I put a cross against someone’s name, that's not the point. I don't want to give too much importance to this, but when you behave well in general and happily you do good because you care, then it takes a certain intelligence in behaving - he continued – You judge behaviour based on what happens, I didn’t like it, and it's not the first time ”.
His judgment of the team is less severe...
Dovizioso: "I’ve never asked anything, not even with the rider of Ducati that everyone knows"
“I can’t say that Ducati is not doing the best that it is right to do. The situation this year is no different from other years. I don't think we have to make a strategy in Ducati, there are a lot of races to go and every rider has to race in the way they want. I never asked, also when I could have asked in the past with the rider of Ducati that everyone knows, the Spanish rider, and so it’s not about strategy for the championship. But it’s just to be smart in the situation of today ”.
It is not a matter of strategy, therefore. It is not a move on the chessboard, nor is it a question of waiting for an indication from the team as they do in Formula 1…
“In my opinion these situations are always complicated and it depends on your point of view. I don't like what you see in F1, having all these orders and racing like that isn't part of bike racing, and that's a positive side ”.
There is a tomorrow however, which is further away than the Aragon race: it is Aprilia. Rivola has sent another message to Dovi, it remains to be seen whether the rider from Forlì will want to wait for Iannone's sentence in November. Too late…is the wait too long for Dovi?
“I don’t want to say anything about the Aprilia situation, I don't want to put the people who are working on it in a bad situation. That’s not the reality".
