Rossi: this isn't the Ducati I wanted 'I even thought about pulling into the pits and finishing my race there, but I kept going only out of respect for my team members, and to collect useful data." The GP12 isn't to his liking, as was the case with the 11 and 11.1, and for the first time he even distanced himself from its design. "Ducati didn't follow the direction that I indicated, but I'm not an engineer and I can't solve every problem." That both Barbera and Hayden were faster is of little interest to him. "It wouldn't have changed much to finish sixth. This certainly isn't an appealing result for me, and I'm aiming at least for the podium." Something which seems well out of reach for the moment. "I'm not able to ride the bike as I like. I'm faster on used tires than on new. The rear is pushing a lot, and things only improve slightly when the tires start to slide. I have no confidence, and I can't even get ahead of Hayden, who gave everything he had to finish 28 seconds behind the leader." And with this, the polite, professional courtesy between the Italian rider and Italian marque has come to an end. "The problems with the bike haven't changed, and neither have my requests. It's unrideable, and it doesn't make much difference what track we are on. I'm not able to enter the corners hard on the brakes, and we can't hope the situation will change completely with the new Bridgestone tires. These aren't problems you can solve with setup alone." Either the rider adapts to the bike, or the bike is again adapted to the rider. Ducati are at a crossroads.'
I have been waiting for rossi to fire some fecks into ducati! It's about time too! I know who will win :wink:
A downbeat Valentino Rossi conceded that at present he simply cannot get to grips with the 2012 Ducati after struggling to 10th place in the Qatar Grand Prix. The seven-time MotoGP champion was a long way off the pace throughout the Losail weekend, and could not match team-mate Nicky Hayden's pace. While Rossi said an earlier clash with Hector Barbera was a factor in his Qatar result, he admitted that the biggest problem was that the bike did not suit him at all. "I had big problems at the beginning of the race: when we are on new tyres I struggle under braking," he told Italian broadcaster Mediaset. "On top of that, I lost four or five seconds after coming together with Barbera. I then managed to improve a bit and on the last lap I even managed to set my quickest lap on worn tyres. But it's useless, we struggle to be competitive. "I can't ride this bike, I can't make the difference, I can't even keep up with Hayden's pace, who I used to go quick against in comparison. In theory, with new tyres I should go quicker. Nicky managed to do a good race with the other works Ducati, but he still ended up only sixth." Rossi fears that 2012 could end up being even harder than last year, when he took just one podium finish. "In Jerez testing it went better, sixth with the quicker tyres," he said. "But that's our pace, it's not an attractive objective to be fighting for sixth place. We are used to better objectives. "Probably we are going worse than last year because we managed to be seventh back then... What can I say? I want to be frank. I can't ride this bike well, even in comparison with my fellow Ducati riders. "This Ducati has problems: I gave indications over where to intervene, but we didn't solve our problems. Unfortunately I'm no engineer and can't do anything about it. At least the positive aspect is that I don't crash with this chassis. That's something at least." The Italian added that he was finding it hard to be optimistic as Ducati had failed to progress from a disappointing start in 2011. "We ran out of hope last year. More than hope we need a better bike," Rossi said. "But I wouldn't want to expose myself like I did last year, by thinking and hoping that the second chassis development would be an improvement. "I tried to be a professional. When Barbera pushed me out I even considered returning to the pits, but then I stayed out in order to give our technicians some data to study so as to improve things." It's now over 5 hours since the race ended and still no press release from ducati!
What a whinger! Blaming the bike instead of his lack of balls, Hayden did OK, Barbera was reasonable, so surely the GOAT can handle it? Now where did I put that big spoon?
And that gentlemen is that! So what can Ducati possibly do now? Surely this is just a way of engineering a way out of his contract, can't see why Ducati should put up with public slating from VR when he's not even top Ducati rider, more to the point he's also a little patronising of Hayden as well. All VR is doing there is looking after his own personal fortunes, what's the point in having the supposed 'marketers dream' when he's just slating the company and the bike...... Sack him as that what he wants, then he can blame the demise on ducati and not down to the fact the young guns have better speed nowadays. Pathetic
Thanks to motomatters for this well written piece: Down in 10th, there was a colorless, uninspired Valentino Rossi, and the tension of running around a very, very long way off the podium is starting to tell. According to reports in the Italian media - the best being over on the ever-reliable GPOne.com - after the race, Rossi had a go at Ducati, saying that this bike had the same problems and that they were not listening to his requests. He had had the pace for 5th, Rossi claimed, but frankly, that was not what he was in MotoGP for. He wanted podiums and more, and Ducati were not providing him with the tools he needs to do the job. Meanwhile, five seconds ahead of him, Nicky Hayden is getting on and doing his job. The Ducati has improved enough for Hayden to start to ride it, and the Kentucky Kid has never been called out for a lack of effort. Hayden has what he has, and is trying to get the best out of it, regardless of whether it is ideal or not. Rossi's crew has been reduced to copying Hayden's settings, to see if that will help the Italian. The last time that happened was at Yamaha, when Jorge Lorenzo and Ramon Forcada were beating the combination of Rossi and Jerry Burgess. And Rossi and Burgess have so far been unable to replicate what Casey Stoner and Cristian Gabbarini have done, even on the carbon fiber chassis which Ducati - under the advice of Rossi - have since written off as a failed experiment. The Rossi / Ducati marriage is starting to turn sour. Rossi massively underestimated just how good Casey Stoner was on the bike, as indeed did Ducati, it appears. Ducati have worked and are working overtime to bring new updates to the bike, but whether those changes will help remains to be seen. With Rossi looking and sounding totally unmotivated, even if they brought a great bike for him, you would have to wonder whether he would have the hunger still in him to ride it. Valentino Rossi is a man of great character, great charm and great wit. He has faced his vale of tears at Ducati with massive dignity, undertaking his PR duties without complaint - for the most part. But increasingly, when speaking to the press, he looks like a man playing a part, playing the part of a witty, charming rake. He appears to have lost heart in this project, and perhaps even in motorcycle racing. And that is very, very sad indeed.
His point about Hayden is valid - half a minute behind the leaders is no place for a former world champ, and the fact you have two world champs struggling on the same bike says a lot. Even if they are both past their best you can bet they'd be right behind the leaders if they were on hondas or yamahas. But it's also true that Rossi's head is down. They may as well part company; this is doing neither Rossi or Ducati any good.
and its only the first race.....long season ahead for Ducati and VR.However well done Hayden at least gave it a go.
It has to be the bike he rode like a god on the yamaha m1 this bike has big problems i say scrap it and give him a hot 1198
What Ducati needs to do is to get right behind Rossi and Burgess and offer them several attempts to create the bike of their choice...................
+1 Get their collective heads out of asses and listen to some constructive rider feedback? He aint going out for some Sunday bimble, bike handling is #1 at that speed.
Hmmm so it was Ducati's idea to ditch the stressed air box that the 1199 emulates for marketing purposes, to go with the twin spar aluminium frame, was it. I didn't realise
They could always offer an aftermarket DP aluminium twin spar frame for the 1199, now that is marketing genius! Right there. :wink:
