Dovizioso: Very strange, lots to study

Jerez has never been a happy hunting ground for Ducati and Andrea Dovizioso, so on paper leaving the pair of season-openers with 3-6 finishes and third in the world championship is a decent result.

Not so satisfying was that the gap between Dovizioso and Petronas Yamaha race winner Fabio Quartararo doubled from 6 to 12 seconds in the space of a week, a poor qualifying being compounded by a 'very strange' new problem in the second Andalucia outing.

"Position wise [sixth] is not too bad, if we think to be in Jerez and starting 14th, because it's very difficult to gain a position when the speed is very similar," Dovizioso said on Sunday. "I was able to see Valentino in third and the gap stayed the same, more or less, until four laps to the end.

"Something we didn't expect, is that from the first lap I didn't have front [feeling] in the middle of the corners. Very, very strange. We don't know why, if it's just related to the very hot conditions.

"I was quite good in straight braking and the last part of braking, but when I released the brake I couldn't carry on the speed and I couldn't push. Fast corners, slow corners, I couldn't push."

A number of riders experienced front-end overheating problems in Sunday's race, but Dovizioso said his issue was something different.

"With the Michelins and in this temperature, when you follow riders it affects you a lot. But it's the same for many years. And in this condition when the heat is even more, it's even harder to keep the pressure in the right range. But that's the same for everybody," he said.

"My problem wasn't related to temperature I think, because I didn't follow other riders really. When I overtook Danilo [lap 5], I was alone. I had a lot of bikes in front but I wasn't that close to be affected by them.

"I was very surprised [by the problem] because this morning we did a good step with the electronics that gave me the possibility to brake harder.

"So now we have to analyse and understand everything we did. Because we changed the set-up a lot, it was very different from last week, we are in a strange, tight track and we will not find this heat in future.

"Sixth is OK in Jerez, but I'm not happy with the feeling.

"Pecco showed there was a chance to be on the podium. I couldn't because I was too far behind. If had been able to ride in a better way like we expected, I think I was able to fight with Valentino for the podium."

On Saturday Dovizioso explained why he didn't want to 'copy' Pramac Ducati riders Bagnaia and Jack Miller, believing that although faster over a single lap there was no real difference in race pace and every rider needs to use their own style.

"I didn't want to copy the way they ride, I didn't want to copy the pace," Dovizioso said. "At the end, Bagnaia did a really good pace, and the best pace of Ducati today.

"There is a reason; if you check the data - like everybody does for the same bike - it's like I said before, new [front feeling] problems which we didn't expect came out in the race, and we are very surprised about that.

"Because [last week] I wasn't able to brake hard, and we found the way with the setup and the electronics to fix that, and with the change of the electronics I was able to really ride in a better way in warm-up [second fastest].

"But when I released the brake , I couldn't [feel the front]. And with these temperatures and with this grip, when you can't [feel] the bike, you are very limited.

"Pecco is riding in a better way than us, because he is using the rear brake and sliding in a different way. So for sure we will study, but we have already studied that.

"Jack was there, but I think he was really on the limit, and that was the reason he crashed. For sure there are a lot of interesting things to study and understand, to try to be ready for Brno.

"But we know how MotoGP is, every track is a different story."

Unlike Jerez, Dovizioso and Ducati have an excellent record at Brno and Austria, which will host the next three races in a row. However Dovizioso remains cautious about the impact of the new 2020 rear tyre.

"The tyre changed a lot of things. I think the competitors are a lot stronger, especially the Yamaha and the Suzuki, like we knew before the season. So I think it will be different. And normally is a Yamaha track," he said of Brno.

"Maybe they have a limit of the engine, maybe they have some trouble with the engine, we don't know exactly the details, so maybe that will affect them. And we will use our [straight line] characteristic to try to be strong.

"But to speak about a good track for us is a second thing. First we have to fix what we are not doing in a perfect way, setup and everything that happened in these two races. Because a lot of things happened."

While Bagnaia suffered an engine problem while holding second place, Dovizioso's team-mate Danilo Petrucci joined Jack Miller in crashing out of the race.