Dovizioso: “I made a mistake in Argentina. I don’t feel comfortable”

Andrea Dovizioso has scored just two championship points to date, definitely not the season start that he and Yamaha were expecting. Things are clearly not going in the right direction and the Italian's behaviour on Sunday only highlights this, an error leading to his inevitable retirement from the race.

Dovizioso is left disappointed

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At the end of lap one, “Dovi” had to return to the garage and admits it was his mistake: “I’m very disappointed, it never happened to me before. I made a mistake and forgot to unlock the front ignition device. I closed it, but didn’t shift the lever to release it at turn one. Only when I stopped in pitlane did I realise it was my fault”. A DNF that weighs heavily on his shoulders then.

Too much tension

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The 36- year accepts full responsibility: “I’m really sorry for the team, because it shouldn’t have happened, but it can happen when you’re not relaxed”. The issues aboard the Yamaha M1 appear significant: “I don’t feel comfortable, I’m not riding smoothly, I’m not exploiting the bike’s potential, hence the tension. I wanted to do it all right from lap one and made this mistake”. He’s learned his lesson. Yamaha is struggling in general, but Dovizioso appears to be in more difficulty than the factory riders.

There’s no shortage of effort, but the results are slow to come, and so it’s only fair to ask - will he finish the season? Perhaps it’s a little early to consider this after just three non-European rounds, but the issues are clear and the expectations in his case were (significantly) higher.

Translated by Heather Watson

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