Fabio falls short
Fabio Quartararo looked like he would dominate 2020. Marc Marquez was injured, and the new golden boy of MotoGP built on his fantastic debut campaign with back-to-back wins, and poles, at Jerez.
Quartararo was the first French MotoGP winner since Regis Laconi (1999) and the first independent team rider to win back-to-back races since Marco Melandri (2005).
Things changed quickly. After Jerez, Quartararo only finished inside the top six twice and crashed twice. Quartararo admitted that he couldn’t get to grips with the 2020 M1, saying that the bike felt nervous.
His chilled out, laidback demeanour had also gone. Quartararo wasn’t one to hide his frustrations on the bike or in the garage. A shake of the head or a wave of his arms was a common sight in 2020. Marquez is great at hiding weakness and anger; Quartararo needs to do the same. Cool heads prevail in MotoGP.
With Marc Marquez injured, Andrea Dovizioso naturally became the title favourite. Why wouldn’t he be? The Italian has been Marquez’s closest rival for the last three years and beat him head-to-head multiple times. Dovizioso’s time had come. Unfortunately, instead of his moment to shine, 2020 was a missed opportunity – a falling out with Ducati leading to a sabbatical which may turn into retirement. Dovizioso still finished fourth overall, led the championship at one stage, and won in Austria. However, the big problem, at least for Ducati and Honda, was the new, softer, rear tyre from Michelin.
As a result, Dovizioso was forced into changing his riding style which
‘Dovi was forced into changing his riding style’
had worked brilliantly for many years. Dovi was always a demon braker, able to leave it late, brake hard and then get the Ducati power down on exit. Now, he was having to put more pressure on the front tyre whilst adapting his riding style. It’s fair to say that he didn’t feel comfortable on the bike at all. The new tyres also favoured inline-fours which are able to carry corner speed, something which has always plagued the Ducati. It’s potentially an anti-climactic end to what has been a fantastic MotoGP career. Hopefully we’ll see Dovizioso racing on two wheels again in 2022.