Andrea Dovizioso says his first day on the Petronas SRT Yamaha on Friday at the San Marino GP was “weird” because the bike is “very different” from his old Ducati.
The 15-time MotoGP winner has taken over from Franco Morbidelli, who was signed by Yamaha to take Maverick Vinales’ place in the factory squad by the end of 2023.
Dovizioso rode a Ducati for eight years between 2013 and 2020 and last tested for Aprilia during his sabbatical this season before making his MotoGP return with SRT in Misano on Friday.
He finished last Friday with the combined times and around 2.6 seconds behind pace, but says that after just half a unit of dry running he is still far from comfortable on the M1.
When asked how his first ride on the Yamaha was, he replied, “Very, very strange. I mean, the bike is very, very different.
“Still, I don’t feel that well, but the change is huge – more about the position and size of the bike than how the bike works, because I wasn’t far this morning.
“I didn’t push, but the feeling was really good in some areas. We work on position.
“Some things we can do, others not right now. It was very strange, but in a good way.
“It was nice to feel different things, a huge difference. I have to work a little harder to understand some things, but it was very nice. “
Dovizioso last rode a Yamaha in 2012 at Tech3 and noted that there are some similarities to the 2019 M1 he is currently on and the 2012 motorcycle.
“It’s still a bit early to talk about some of the details, but I still have to be faster,” he added.
“But there are a lot of things that are very similar, but that’s what I expected.
“The mentality of the Japanese is like that and that doesn’t surprise me. I think this bike is the biggest and longest in the championship, it’s not about that [comparing to the] Ducati or Aprilia. “
Morbidelli finished 16th in the overall standings and was only 0.904 seconds behind the speed setter Vinales on Friday at the Aprilia, as he had not ridden a MotoGP motorcycle since the German GP in June due to a knee injury.
The Italian says he couldn’t compare the 2019 and 2021 versions of the Yamaha as the return to the action felt like being on a ‘spaceship’ – but he admitted that his first day as a factory MotoGP rider was one I’ll remember forever
“I would like to say something about the difference between the two bikes, but the truth is I couldn’t feel anything today,” said Morbidelli.
“I just jumped on the bike and after such a long time it basically feels like a spaceship. Therefore I cannot give any feedback or anything about the difference between the two bikes.
“It sure is a day that I will remember forever, it was really nice to have this kind of environment and it was really nice to have this FP1, FP2 in Misano with these colors.
“The day went well, I had more knee problems this morning than in the afternoon.
“I’ve been trying all day to find a way to just put my leg on the footrest.
“The more laps I drove, the more solutions I tried and the more solutions I found for this problem.”