The price of Loyalty – Lorenzo to Ducati
By Phil Hall
The recent announcement that World Champion, Jorge Lorenzo, has signed for Ducati for the next two years really wasn’t a surprise. Speculation about the move has been rife since before the season began and it didn’t take long for the “experts” to come out with their “I told you so” pronouncements.
The timing of the announcement is odd, being as of it is so early in the season but the end result for Lorenzo won’t really be much different as I hope to show in due course.
Trying to determine a person’s motive is always a risky business and we will probably never know just exactly what prompted Lorenzo to jump ship from his winning team but we can make some educated guesses.
The first reason most riders have for moving to another team is money. Since we rarely ever get to know what riders get paid or what the value of their various corporate endorsements and personal sponsorships are, we really don’t know how much better deal JL99 will be getting at Ducati but you can be sure that it will be impressive. However, given that he is already fabulously rich as it is, it seems unlikely that money is the main reason.
Riders change teams because they are dissatisfied with the performance and potential of the bike they are presently riding. Plainly this is not so since the Yamaha, by everyone’s estimation, is the best bike out there by a fair margin.
They change teams because they suspect that another bike is soon going to better their own and they want to be there when it happens. There seems to be a grain of truth in this one for there is no doubt that, since the new broom has swept through the Ducati team, the bike itself is better, not yet a race winner, but with potential to be so. For several seasons it has been the fastest bike in a straight line and racers love speed, but now that the chronic handling issues that have dogged all previous models have been addressed, it’s pretty handy in the corners too. So Lorenzo’s move might just be a clever one.
Of course, the sport is littered with riders who jumped ship at the WRONG time on just such an expectation so the move is always fraught with a degree of risk. It has already been noted that the Ducati, in its present form, is far more of a “point and squirt” bike (a legacy of Casey Stoner, perhaps?). Lorenzo’s flowing, keep up the corner speed, style may not necessarily suit the bike. Can Lorenzo adapt his riding style to suit the different bike? We have no evidence to suggest an answer. His whole MotoGP career has been at Yamaha, riding what has essentially been the same basic bike. We know that he’s by far the best at apex-to-apex riding, he surely must have considered this issue as well before signing on the dotted line.
Riders change teams with the hope of bettering themselves. Riders who stay at the one team can become stale and start to hanker for a new challenge. It seems unlikely, on the face of things, that Lorenzo can better himself much more than what he already has. 41 Grand Prix wins and 3 MotoGP World Championships is already setting the bar pretty high. Ego is an odd thing, though. Perhaps he is feeling that he HAS been type-cast as the classic, smooth rider that we know him to be and he wants to prove to himself and to us that he can get in the rodeo ring and successfully wrangle the bull?
Despite the fact that riders claim they aren’t interested in statistics, the fact is that their egos won’t let them ignore the numbers. Lorenzo is well behind Rossi in terms of overall wins, but he IS in 4th place. He turns 30 next year, Rossi will be 40 when (or if) he retires at the end of 2018. So he has plenty of time to rack up more wins, but the competition is far more intense now than it was when Rossi scored most of his wins so, while leapfrogging Rossi into third place is possible, it is unlikely.
It has been suggested that Lorenzo’s move is motivated by wanting to join the exclusive club of riders who have won a MotoGp/500cc world title on two different brands of bikes. Again, this is possible. It’s also been suggested that Lorenzo’s move has a great deal to do with wanting to do what Rossi was unable to do, win a Grand Prix on the Ducati. What a coup it would be to be able to say that!
And it is here that we home in on what I believe to be the MAIN reason why JL99 is off to Ducati and it has everything to do with his present team-mate. It is the elephant in the room about which nobody seems willing to speak. Lorenzo is leaving because he has finally had enough of Yamaha pandering to Rossi when he, Lorenzo, is the one who has done most to enhance Yamaha’s racing reputation. It’s all about loyalty and Lorenzo feels, quite rightly, that his loyalty to Yamaha has not only been NOT appreciated but has, in fact, been spurned.
Rossi made a big deal about being in love with his M1. He even made the statement, “I will never leave Yamaha, I’m here for life.” (or words to that effect) But he DID leave, taking his legion of fans with him across to Ducati. What followed is the well-documented dream that became a nightmare. Ducati said, “There is no way we will build a Yamaha just to suit Valentino Rossi,” but they turned around and did exactly that and he STILL didn’t deliver. Pre-Audi days, Rossi found what Stoner had found, rider input was not only NOT appreciated, it was ignored.
So, back to Yamaha he came, all contrite and filled with the theatre of being reunited with his beloved M1. Team principals made it clear that Lorenzo, as the incumbent and double world champion would be the team’s #1 rider with Rossi having to accept being the equal#1 as the new boy. But did it happen? Of course it didn’t. In fact, it became clear almost at once, that Rossi was back as the team’s #1 and Lorenzo was relegated back to #2 status. Did Lorenzo complain? No, he did what he always does; he got his nose down, did the hard yards and showed, by his RESULTS that the team had got it wrong.
And then it all went pear-shaped in the closing races of 2015. Rossi’s brain snap at Sepang, his inexplicable accusations that Marquez was helping Lorenzo take the title off him. The team’s failure to support Lorenzo and failure to censure Rossi for his conduct prejudicial to the sport and to the team, would have likely been inexplicable to Lorenzo who had done nothing wrong. Then for the team to censure HIM for his conduct on the podium at Valencia must have seemed like the final act of disloyalty. Leaving the toxic atmosphere of Yamaha and going to Ducati must have seemed like the easiest decision that he has ever had to make.
Let’s make it clear. Lorenzo’s loyalty to Yamaha is unquestioned; he has been their rider since he entered the top echelon in 2008. He has brought them 3 world titles and 41 Grand Prix wins. If that isn’t loyalty, I don’t know what is. His team-mate, however, has shown that his only loyalty is to himself and yet Yamaha closes ranks around him. Is it any wonder Lorenzo went looking for a better deal?
Lorenzo has never been my favourite rider, but he is the genuine article. I hope that he wins LOTS of races at Ducati, he deserves them.
