Lorenzo blames team over bike swap debacle

The Brno race started in damp conditions, but the first riders – including eventual dominant winner Marc Marquez – came in to change to slick-shod bikes at the end of the second lap.

Ducati attempted to react to Marquez’s strategy by calling Lorenzo – who briefly led in the early stages – in two laps later, but his second bike wasn’t ready in time, and after a slow stop he fell to 19th position, only recovering to claim the final point in 15th with a bike that was not set up properly. 

“Our problem was the delay in the decision to prepare the bike to go on dry [conditions],” said Lorenzo. “This delay, the problems we had, gave Marquez the advantage because they planned before, probably on the grid [to have the ‘dry’ bike ready]. 

“Just three corners before the pits I received a signal on the dashboard [to pit], so I expected that the bike was ready but it was not. The team, seeing that Marc was so fast already, decided to take the risk to put this signal already before we are losing more seconds.

“When I entered the pits I saw the team working on the bike, changing the suspension, putting the right settings. The bike felt a little strange, and they told me my setting was half-dry, half-wet, so that’s why I couldn’t go any faster.”

"Perfect situation" to win race

Lorenzo said it is not straightforward to have the second bike ready for dry weather before the start of a wet race, as any issue on the formation lap could require the spare machine to be ready for the same conditions.

His teammate Andrea Dovizioso said Ducati was also caught out by the circuit drying faster than it has in the past, or even on Friday when FP1 was wet, so the Italian stayed out a lap longer waiting for the second bike to be ready to avoid a repeat of Lorenzo’s delays.

However, other riders, including Valentino Rossi, said their bikes were set up for the dry ahead of the start to allow for an early change if required. 

While Lorenzo has traditionally struggled in wet conditions in recent years, he said that a wet GP on Sunday would have given him his best chance of taking a first victory with Ducati.

“The bike gives me so much confidence that any quantities of rain and water I was really, really quick,” he said. “We were unlucky that 15 minutes before the GP, the track dries up.

“Rain conditions were the perfect situation to finally win my first race with Ducati – today I felt I had this chance.

“But this year, I have made a lot of mistakes, and this time it was the guys who made a mistake. We have to accept it.”