Andrea Dovizioso hoped to find himself in a completely different condition on Friday of the second Aragon race, but unfortunately the reality is very difficult to swallow. The data provided by the combined scoring of the first day of free practice are difficult to misunderstand. The four Ducati GP20 on the track are currently supporting the grid, with Dovizioso 19th and closely surrounded by Miller, Petrucci and Bagnaia.
A complex situation However, this does not destroy the will and determination of Dovizioso, who sees the glass half full at the end of the first day of free practice, although the stopwatch has little to show.
“As I said yesterday, I imagined more competition and instead the opposite happened – Dovizioso explained with his usual clarity – today the wind didn’t help us, the Ducati may have this problem more than the other motorcycles, But in any case, I think the Honda riders are the strongest right now, You have a better bike than anyone else and you are fast. They are moving at an incredible pace, something unreal. Only the two Suzukis are on a similar level, they work very well. We haven’t made any progress, we’re suffering from the wind and have problems with the tires. I didn’t ride the soft a lot in the afternoon, which was a goal of the session. This year there is more potential with the soft, but you have to do 23 laps on it. The point is that we are at the same speed as we were a few days ago, while the others have gone further ahead. “
The difficulty is for all Ducati riders.
“When all the bikes like yours are lagging behind, there’s a reason there’s no point in making excuses. But there is work and work on the route. Jack has adapted quite well and this year he is doing everything he can to do well for the race. If you’re not feeling good, work on focusing on the final session to get into the top ten. If you don’t have the speed then you need to do this and use the tires if you can give your all. Otherwise, you risk abusing the tires and staying out of Q2. Tomorrow morning we have two tires to play with but that kind of work is done when you are uncompetitive and need to have a strategy “.
But do you think that what you saw today is the real Ducati situation in Aragon?
“It’s not reality. I’m sure Jack, I and Pecco haven’t put on any new tires either, so we haven’t pushed hard and can stay ahead in the overall standings. I think we can fight for tomorrow Top 10. But our goal isn’t that, it’s the fight for the top and that’s all, we’re fighting for positions that aren’t ours, that’s the problem. We have a chance to get into Q2. We didn’t carry out a real-time attack, we don’t have a benchmark. I could have found the time today to stay in the top ten, but tomorrow the track will be faster and I’m afraid we’ll have to stay below 1’48 to stay in 10 and I see it tough for us .
The risk is that many of you will be on the road with Ducatis in the first quarter. Do you think there will be a strategy in this case?
“The problem is, without speed, you don’t even have a strategy. From this point of view, you just have to be quick. Now we have only two worries left. One is to learn more about the setup and improve for the race. Two to create the time, the perfect round. A good lap is not enough in our conditions, you need the perfect lap to be in the top ten and if you don’t have a good feeling on the bike it’s not easy to do “.
Today many drivers have experimented with tires. Why?
“Everyone worked differently today than they did last week. Those who used Softs in the race today made different decisions to try other solutions. Today we saw something bad for us because many drivers were very fast at racing speed. The medium tires have less potential than the soft ones and a lot of drivers have been very fast with them, we have to worry about that. The pace of the fastest scares me. We have better potential, but knowing how to stick with the best is a whole different story. “
Why did some bikes adapt immediately, like the Yamaha in the first few days of last week, and then just go under?
“In my opinion the Yamaha is easier to push to the limit straight away, It is a type of bicycle that suffers less from the conditions we found here a few days ago, such as the low temperatures. Even if you don’t set record times straight away, you have more self-confidence and a certain amount of leeway, but in reality you immediately hit the limit. Our bike is more difficult to push to the limit, But the more laps there are on a track, the better the conditions get and the easier it is to realize the bike’s true potential. It’s not something that just happened this weekend, it happens on multiple tracks to see this progress. They left instantly quickly, we arrived later and we’re still at it. Then we are generally not allowed to linger on individual days. The Honda could be seen as a surprise, but in reality it has always been strong at Aragon. “
If you had a choice today, would you go back to Michelin 2019?
“I would answer yes, it is clear that we do not get used to it very well and I would go back. But it does not matter, there is a single tire. A decision is made about which tires to use and you have to adapt . ” These days don’t help morale, but I’ve got used to them by now. Let’s stay calm and let’s keep working. “