Why Livio Suppo says it is good that he did not directly succeed Davide Brivio last year – After Ducati and Honda, he now wants to be successful with Suzuki
With Livio Suppo, Suzuki has filled the role of team manager with an experienced person. The Italian was with Ducati from 1999 until the end of 2009. At that time, the Italian brand’s MotoGP project was set up and Casey Stoner won the only rider World Championship title to date.
In 2010 Suppo moved to the Honda factory team, where he was initially marketing director. In 2013 he took on the role of team principal. He remained loyal to Honda until the end of 2017. During this period, Stoner became world champion once and Marc Marquez four times.
In recent years, he built up a company with electric mountain bikes (Thok E-Bikes). Now Suppo is back in the MotoGP paddock. How long is his contract with Suzuki? “How many years? Enough,” Suppo laughs. “It’s not a one-year contract. That would be too little for a job like this. “
When Davide Brivio decided to join Alpine in Formula 1 after Joan Mir’s World Championship title at the end of 2020, Suzuki did not backfill the position of team manager. But project manager Shinichi Sahara already said last summer that this was not ideal.
“When Davide left for Formula 1, there were rumours that I would come to Suzuki,” Suppo looks back. “But there was nothing to it. I think I gave an interview once where I said that if Suzuki approached me, I would listen to it. “
“But nothing happened. Suzuki decided to go for a season without a team manager. Last summer Sahara gave an interview that they would like to have a team manager again in 2022. “
“Of course you think about it because MotoGP has been my life for so long. I spoke to Sahara for the first time at the end of the year. But he made me realise that I was not the only candidate.”
“It was obvious that there was a theoretical possibility of Davide coming back. So I said to Sahara that of course I would respect it should Davide return. A few weeks ago Sahara called me and said that we can talk now. “
“Then it was clear to me that something had happened. He sent me a proposal and the next day I replied that we had a deal. I didn’t have to think about it for long. I’ve known Sahara for a long time. “
Over the winter, the Alpine team also made management shake-ups. Rumours persisted that Brivio might leave the team. However, this was not the case. The Italian will remain loyal to Formula 1 in 2022 as well.
Why now is the right time
Suppo believes that now was also the right time for the Suzuki team to reinstate a team manager: “This one season without a team manager was good to take a step forward. “
“I can join the team now, but I can’t change the team – nobody can – because it works without a team manager. But with a good team manager, the team can get better.”
“If you go from a good team manager, who has a certain attitude, immediately to another team manager who has a different attitude, then maybe you don’t realise that you need a team manager.”
“Last year Suzuki realised they were missing one. So I think now is a better time for everyone. If I had come last year, people would have compared Davide’s style with mine. Some would have been happy, some would not.”
“Now it’s clear what Davide’s style was. Then the one year without a team manager was more difficult. And now we will see what will happen. If I had joined when Davide left the team, it would have been a different situation for the team and me. “
