MotoGP, Davide Brivio: “Sometimes two riders are not enough”

Suzuki has enjoyed an unforgettable season in MotoGP, winning the title with Joan Mir and securing third place in the championship with second rider Alex Rins. And they only just missed out on the constructors’ title. All in all, Davide Brivio can be very pleased with his work, also considering the available budget (apparently the fifth in order of size among the six manufacturers on the grid).

But, like any perfectionist, Brivio thinks there is always room for improvement. Particularly with the help of a satellite team. An option that has long been discussed in Suzuki.

Brivio: "We need more information on track"

"On the one side, it might look as if we don’t need it because we’ve won the title, but our engineers don’t agree”, states Davide Brivio in reference to a possible satellite team.

"On track, we feel the need for more information. In certain situations, two riders are not enough… As a factory team, we’d like to have a satellite team with which to obtain and share more information, but this project requires the approval of top management ", explains Brivio.

If taken, a decision would need to come early on in 2021. This, so that the project could come to fruition in 2022.

“If the aim is to do it in 2022, we’d need to decide at the start of 2021, so March or April at the latest”, comments Brivio.

The "suspect” arrival of Monster

In the meantime, it’s impossible not to hypothesise with regard to the arrival of new title sponsor Monster, which moves from Yamaha to Suzuki following Valentino Rossi’s departure from the factory team.

And if Monster is closely tied to Valentino Rossi – it came to Yamaha when Rossi returned following his brief stint with Ducati – there’s also a link with Davide Brivio, who is a close friend of the rider.

How will this partnership develop? Will we see Valentino Rossi in Suzuki? Or will the team that Valentino plans to create be wearing Suzuki blue? Might this be the satellite team to which Davide Brivio refers? We can only await further clues…

Translated by Heather Watson

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