Dovizioso: Apology doesn’t change anything

Andrea Dovizioso was quick to accept Jorge Lorenzo’s apology after the dramatic outcome of Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix, but said “it doesn’t change anything” regarding the loss of points in the 2019 MotoGP title fight.

The Italian felt he had the potential to, at the very least, challenge Marc Marquez for the top honours in Sunday’s 24-lap affair. But Lorenzo’s rash move took at turn ten on the second lap took down him, and Monster Energy Yamaha team-mates Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi.

Lorenzo’s actions were a consequence of him not thinking “lucidly,” according to Dovizioso, who felt the Majorcan should face a penalty ahead of the next outing at Assen. “That mistake Jorge did is not crazy, but from him in that corner in the second lap is because he wasn’t thinking clearly,” he said.

“Accepted or not accepted, it doesn't change anything,” said Dovizioso, responding to whether he had accepted his former team-mate’s apology.

“I think it’s intelligent to say, OK. It was good. He came in the box, but it didn’t change anything. Very disappointed because this is what we don’t need for the championship.

“We know how strong Marc is, and we had a chance to fight today. He did a really good pace, but we had our chance. We did a good start. I put myself in the right position. I was waiting to prepare the rear tire because still at that moment they had not started to work.

“The soft takes three laps to be ready. It’s quite clear what happened. I think Jorge was in a good position. He gained a lot of positions in the start. In the pace he wasn’t too far, and he really wanted to be in front at the beginning and he did a big mistake.

“That corner it’s very easy to make a mistake because that corner is in first gear and you have to come back, so a small mistake at the end can be a big mistake. He wasn’t lucid in that moment, because he braked.

“He wanted to overtake Maverick, but he didn’t look where he brake. Because Maverick braked very late. He was a bit long, and brake later than Maverick. So this means at the end he was too fast and he was inside.

“The mistake if you look at this from the riders, it’s not too big, but to make that in that corner in the second lap is a big mistake.

“So, from a champion like him, is a big mistake and created a big change on the championship because a lot of fast riders and fighting for the championship did another zero and Marc won, so this is really, really bad.

“We worked very hard during the weekend. Everybody was struggling with this grip this weekend. But at the end my feeling was quite good and I had a chance to fight for the second position, but maybe something wrong with Marc.

“So that is important because the gap can now become a bit bigger. But the championship is long. We will never give up for sure until the end. Every race, anything can happen. We’ll keep fighting.

“The really bad thing is Marc in this situation is smart, and normally like last year races the second rider on the championship. So he will be maybe not on the limit like now and he had to push 100% of the time. That is bad.

“That is what we wanted this season. Before this race, we were there to put him on the limit and everybody can make a mistake. But it is what it is.

“That mistake Jorge did is not crazy, but from him in that corner in the second lap is because he wasn’t lucid enough, not thinking clearly.

“That situation happened only for that reason, not because Jorge is not good on the braking or is not able to manage that brake. The reason was that. So, I think he has to be penalised.”

On whether the incident has ultimately cost him the championship, Dovizioso continued, “If I think in this way, I would not race the next race. So for sure not at all, because everything can happen in our sport.

“We are strong. We are working really hard. Tomorrow [Monday] we will work really hard on the test to try to find something. There are still a lot of points. It’s bad because Marc has a big gap now, and you know Marc normally is really competitive in any condition so it’s not easy to gain a lot of points to Marc, but it’s not impossible.

“The next two rounds are not the best for us, but in this season I feel more competitive in most of the tracks, so I believe that we can be competitive also in Assen.

“It’s a strange championship. There are a lot of fast riders. This can create a lot of confusion. If you at look the practice before the race, looks like [Alex] Rins or [Fabio] Quartararo can make a big gap. At the end Marc won and we didn’t finish the race. So anything can happen.

“I think still we have on our side big experience on the race in the way we have to manage the race. If you look at the race, no people were thinking about us in the race, but we have a chance to fight for the victory or the second position, the podium, because we have our way of working on the practice.

“Still I think we have something we can work in a better way than the competitor and we will use tomorrow to try something and try to improve our situation.”