EXCLUSIVE: Alvaro Bautista: ‘Why do you lower my performance to equal the championship?’
Alvaro Bautista believes the weight limit rule in WorldSBK ‘is not fair’ and that he is the only one suffering from it.
Although his pre-season testing has mainly been impacted by a lingering shoulder injury, two-time WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista has found the added ballast to his Panigale V4 R a challenge.
As part of the new minimum weight limit rule, Bautista and Ducati have added around six kilos to his machine, which has made the heaviest world championship bike, even more challenging particularly in the corners.
Speaking about the differences between Superbike and MotoGP machines, Bautista told Crash.net: “Superbikes are the heaviest bikes in racing. They are about 11/12 kilos heavier than a MotoGP. Already the bike is too heavy. I’m small and light so for me it is not easy to ride this kind of bike.
“For me, it is easier to ride a MotoGP because I have more control. Already, this bike is more difficult and when you add six or seven kilos more because you have a set-up on the bike the last two years like we did, but now with more kilos it is more difficult to ride.
“We have to find small set-up adjustments when we arrive at the track. The set-up we had last year was perfect but now we have to make some adjustments so that in certain tracks we can be faster or we don’t find the correct set-up.
“It is always more difficult to ride a bike that’s heavier. It will be more difficult for me and more dangerous.
“In a crash, the bike will need more space to stop, and more run-off area. In many tracks we are already in the limit with the run-off area, and now with a heavier bike we need more space.
“I think the rule is not fair. Already I struggle a lot with these kinds of bikes but everybody accepts it except me.”
More dominant than any rider has ever been over one season in 2023, Bautista admitted to us that he was very disappointed by the addition of the minimum weight rule to the championship.
“It’s not fair to add more weight,” said Bautista. “In the end, the rule is not made for me, it’s for the championship but I’m the only rider who has to put weight on the bike.
“I’m the only rider that is penalised by this rule. And for me it’s not fair that, if me and Ducati work hard and well and we arrive at a good performance, that’s it’s fair to penalise good work.
“I understand that they want to make a very competitive championship, but I think it’s better to help the other manufacturers or the other riders like they did in MotoGP with some concession - but to improve their level, not to penalise our performance.
“For me, I understand that they want a more competitive championship and I agree, but don’t penalise my performance.
“If my performance is high, why do you take my performance down to equal out the championship? No! You have to help the others to arrive at my performance.
“I’m angry because it’s not fair that they penalise you when you do good work. In life, when you do things well people have to applaud you.
“Here, you do good work and you have to go down and be worse. I don’t understand but it is the mentality of this championship. It is a bit strange.”
