Massimo Meregalli and the difficulties of Andrea Dovizioso: ‘If the transition was the other way around…’

Fabio Quartararo is currently the only rider capable of winning with the Yamaha YZR-M1. In particular, more was expected from Andrea Dovizioso, on the satellite WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, but Yamaha director Massimo Meregalli sees some mitigating factors in the Italian.

Asked whether Quartararo’s comparisons with riders who dominated the midst of their respective manufacturers such as Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez are justified, the official replied to the website GPOne.com: ‘Right now, yes, but there are reasons. [Darryn] Binder has made a considerable leap from Moto3 to MotoGP, [Jack] Miller has also needed time, and in any case he has improved in the last few races’.

As for Dovizioso in particular, Meregalli is of the opinion that the difficulties of adaptation turn out to be natural: ‘Dovizioso has ridden a completely different bike from ours for several years, I would have expected him to reach that level, but I see him in difficulties. If the transition had been the other way around, he would certainly have adapted earlier, but on Yamaha you have to have high speed in corners and he was used to braking hard, turning the bike and then opening the throttle. The M1 has to be ridden… with courage’.