Remaining off the podium at Assen, suffering almost 15 seconds from the first, losing more heavy points in a championship marked by Marquez-Honda, requires Ducati and its riders to reflect without excuses, a self-critical check, a quick and decisive turn. Once again the red war machine given for invincible seems to have lost its propulsive thrust, perched on the defensive, passing for good results that are not good. So the internal tension between managers and technicians on the one hand and the drivers on the other grows. It’s not a question of goat’s wool: the former repeat that the bike is still the best on the field and therefore must go to the podium and also win, while the latter, especially the Dovi, contest: “Ducati is not the best bike, the bike does not run”.
To understand the air that Ducati breathes after Assen, just look at Dovizioso’s long nose and listen to Petrucci’s after-race outburst. In short, while the number one opponent, Marquez – in fact the “only” Honda rider especially after Lorenzo’s knockout – continues to grind great performances with striking results and heavy points, flying away in the general classification, even the Ducatis are increasingly threatened by the Yamaha and even by the Suzuki, affecting the results of the race and consequently the prospects of a championship that for Dovizioso and Petrucci can take a turn for the worse.
What’s going on? It happens that where long straight stretches are missing, the Rossa loses the advantage of its great engine while at the same time paying for its known gaps in cornering distance. But, what’s worse, besides the technical difficulties, in Borgo Panigale has returned to blow the air of doubt, a bit ‘on everything and on all. With Marquez unstoppable and with the arrival of new, very competitive players (Vinales, Quartararo, Rins, etc.) capable of winning or getting on the podium, Ducati is swamped, unable to respond to the pressure of its increasingly numerous and incisive rivals, just a step away from being overwhelmed. We need conviction, serenity, tactical and strategic clarity, to put our pilots in the best possible condition, especially psychological. Instead, doubts, long mouths, indecisions, even incapable of closing the contract with Petrucci have resurfaced. After yesterday’s entry into Assen by Morbidelli, Petrucci, disconsolate, lets himself go: “In Ducati I am between the anvil and the hammer”.
At stake is not the important question of the future of a rider of “substance” like Petrucci or that of the more quoted Dovizioso, perhaps at his last attempt to assault the title of the queen class, but the consistency of a great team such as the official Ducati that, always involved in the node-riders, sees reduced to light the possibility of bringing back the title MotoGP in Borgo Panigale, indeed, of not being able to hold even the square of honor. What is worse is that this situation is not “pro tempore”, it does not concern a particular phase of the championship or a single season of racing: here the andazzo is always the same, since the time of Stoner, su, Rossi, Iannone, Lorenzo etc. . There is a question of “handle” on the control board, especially with regard to the choice and management of the drivers, the overall strategy. In short, the staff who say the music is not equal to the technical staff of the team, limiting its potential and taking away from Ducati the results it deserves. What to do? Define and close once and for all every open contractual dispute with the riders, first of all the one with Petrucci. Define and impose a clear strategy with a team game useful for the result in the race and, above all, for the championship. Only one cry! Which one? Go from defense to attack! Always and everywhere. Right away. For Ducati, time may already be up.
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