Andrea Dovizioso has confirmed that he will leave MotoGP at the end of the current season, the Italian revealing that “I haven’t tried to find a place for next year.”
Speaking in the latest episode of MotoGP’s In Conversation With series, The RNF Yamaha conceded that his 2022 campaign would be his last for at least the foreseeable future having struggled to adapt to the current-spec Yamaha M1 prototype.
Dovizioso has scored just ten points in the opening 11 races so far with a best result of 11th coming in the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit, leaving him a lowly 22nd in the riders standings with nine events remaining.
The 15-time premier class race winner accepted there was “no reason to” continue racing in MotoGP in 2023 due to a combination of struggling for overall competitiveness as well as because he feels “you need to be in the middle of a project” to be at the forefront of the field, his current RNF squad switching to become Aprilia’s satellite outfit next year.
“For sure I will not race (in 2023), there is no reason to,” explained Dovizioso.
“I’ve always said that if I’m not competitive I don’t want to be here because you don’t enjoy staying and struggling because you have to push and if you don’t feel good with some things then there is no reason (to continue), especially after 20 years.
“I haven’t tried to find a place for next year because I think you have to be in the middle of a project to have a big push because everyone is so competitive at this moment.
“I’m completely relaxed about this (decision) because I already did half the year last season out of racing and already did some testing, so I’m OK about that but for sure I didn’t want to finish the season like this because it’s so nice to feel competitive and make a good lap time while fighting for good results.
“As always I did (try), but if you don’t have everything in your control, these things can happen.”
The three-time MotoGP vice-champion expanded on the reasons he felt were behind his tough 2022 and latter ’21 seasons on the M1, Dovizioso reckoning that the significantly different riding styles between him and the similarly-struggling Franco Morbidelli illustrating that “there isn’t other ways of riding the bike differently to be competitive like in the past.”
“There are some big and small reasons, and putting them all together you get what I’m living now,” continued Dovizioso.
“I think Yamaha at the moment is quite unusual, you have a really good feeling and can turn the bike and brake very well but there are other parts where I’m not that good.
“If you don’t ride like Fabio (Quartararo) it’s very difficult to be competitive, the reason this happens is because if he is winning there is a reason, so there is the possibility to be very fast with the bike (without changing it.)
“But if the other riders are complaining, then (this shows) there isn’t other ways of riding the bike differently to be competitive like in the past.”
“For example the way (all Yamaha riders) ride is completely the opposite, Frankie (Morbidelli) always uses more (lean) angle for more time and doesn’t brake hard, the complete opposite to me, but the result is very similar.
“When the results are coming from just one bike, this shows there is only one way that you can ride the bike to be competitive.”
