Redding explains cause of Aprilia outburst and apology

Scott Redding says climbing the order and showing signs of competitiveness in Austria triggered the build-up to his outburst at Aprilia but accepts how he delivered his criticisms was wrong.

The British rider produced an emotionally-driven slating of his Aprilia squad after the race at the Red Bull Ring which saw him to issue a public apology to the Italian manufacturer.

In the wet FP2 Redding bolted up to second place, only behind Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez on the session times, while in the wet but drying FP3 the British rider also starred with third place.

But after an indifferent qualifying in 20^th Redding toiled in the race, with both qualifying and the race held in dry conditions, where he also finished 20^th and ‘suffering’ 23 seconds off the final points place.

Redding feels his delivery of his criticism of Aprilia created the most harm, increased by translations into Italian, which came across worse than he intended.

“It came from me,” Redding said about his apology. “I know people think it came from Aprilia but it didn’t. I feel and hope they would want me to. They didn’t ask me to do it – it came from me.

“If you read exactly what I said it is not what I said, it was how I said it that was wrong. I am sorry. Then you have the language translation which in Italy if you say something is a piece of shit it is a lot worse than when we say it [in English]. So there are also those things, you don’t think about translations and what it is going to be. It is a lot worse than my intention.

“I cannot take it back. I can apologise and say that I am sorry, I am sorry for the way I said those things and I am sorry for the company that it is not good but I cannot change it.”

Looking to move on from Austria, Redding has been given a timely boost from the one-day test at Misano where he experimented with a new engine configuration with the Aprilia RS-GP which he says makes the bike easier to handle and is an improvement he had been crying out for.

“The test was good, I finally got the engine that I wanted and we had been working for,” he said. “It was a good step again. I had that same feeling that I had from testing it but now I can make runs on it and it felt really good and completely changes the bike.

“I had the same setting as Spielberg where I hated the bike that weekend and we changed the engine which meant it was a completely different bike.

“It makes the engine much more manageable, on gas, off gas, getting a bit more transfer and makes the bike feel like you’ve got a bike.

“It always felt like it was trying to do things that you didn’t want it to do so it settled everything and was a bit more mellow, easier to ride, easier to turn – everything was a step better. That is always nice to have.”

Redding also says his future remains unconfirmed, which he had hoped to be resolved by the Silverstone round, but is confident of options remaining open to him including potential rides in both World Superbike and British Superbike.

Despite his outburst in Austria, Redding is confident it will not hamper his chances of a future ride.

“I am not saying these things because I want to be an idiot or childish or frustrated,” he said. “I am saying it because I am passionate and want to make results which is what it comes down to. I don’t care about money or cars, I don’t care, I just want to make things work and go forward which is why it is hard from me to sit there and make laps to try and improve when nothing is really coming. When I got this engine it was like Christmas.

“Now we have something and we go faster okay let’s go and race and see if we improve. That saved me and brought back my motivation at least for the next races.

“I still have some options and still have some things but like I said earlier in the season I still need to think about what is good for now and what is good for my future. I need to find a good balance but there are things I can do now that in two years I don’t know where I’ll go but it will make or break me.

“I cannot say if it is this option or that option but there are a couple of things.”