Andrea Dovizioso finishes half a minute behind the winner at Mugello and shows no interest in continuing his MotoGP career in 2023
Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso finished 20th in the MotoGP race at the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. The poor showing at his home race was another low point in what has been a very mixed season for Dovizioso so far. If there is not a significant improvement soon, then Dovizioso will finally end his MotoGP career this year.
“I really wanted to have a good race at Mugello and enjoy it. But it didn’t go well in any of the practices. The race was very difficult,” reported Dovizioso, who could only leave Tech 3 KTM rider Raul Fernandez behind. Dovi” was more than 31 seconds behind at the end of the race.
“I was not fast enough in the corners from the first lap of the race. I couldn’t do anything in the chicanes. I just wasn’t fast enough. It was really bad,” explained the former MotoGP vice world champion.
The Yamaha M1 doesn’t suit Dovizioso’s riding style
Dovizioso and the Yamaha M1 continue to not form a harmonious bond. All three of his brand colleagues finished ahead of Dovizioso, including RNF teammate Darryn Binder, who had to serve a long-lap penalty in the race.
“I could see Darryn and Franco (Morbidelli) in the race. They were faster in the corners. With the Yamaha you have to be fast on corner entry. That is the biggest strength of the Yamaha. But I can’t get that right,” the Italian frets.
“I was behind Fernandez for half the race and I was really slow. When I was able to overtake him, I went back to my natural stop-&-go style. That made me half a second faster. But this style doesn’t suit the Yamaha. You are just not fast enough with it,” Dovizioso states and admits: “I get angry when I ride and then I get even more problems. “
Why RNF’s Aprilia deal doesn’t matter to Dovizioso
During the Italian Grand Prix, the RNF team announced that they would be switching from Yamaha to Aprilia next season. Dovizioso was asked about this issue. “Nothing is changing for me because I don’t have any plans for the future yet,” he commented
“I have big difficulties. So it’s not very smart to think about the future at this moment. I don’t see why I should continue racing. I don’t want to be in this situation. I don’t want to be in this state for long. I’ve always said that I don’t want to race in MotoGP any longer if I’m not competitive,” explains Dovizioso.
But could the Aprilia RS-GP with its V4 engine suit him better than the Yamaha M1? “Maybe so, but I’d better not think about the future,” notes “Dovi”, who currently expects to end his career at the end of the season. “At the moment I can answer ‘yes’ quite easily, but let’s wait and see,” the veteran said.
