Andrea Dovizioso returned to MotoGP mid-way through the 2021 season and on a two-year-old Yamaha.
The premier class stalwart spent the final five races of the year struggling at the back of the field with a poorly performing Petronas SRT M1 after replacing Franky Morbidelli in the mid-season Yamaha shuffle.
Bidding farewell to his teammate and long-term rival Valentino Rossi, at Valencia’s finale, the Italian jumped aboard the 2022-spec machine for the Jerez test, and instantly noticed the potential.
The improvement was the braking,” Dovizioso explained. “You're able to brake harder, that's good, especially for my style. So it was good to feel straightaway, and we had a bit more power.
“You are able to brake harder because the front of the bike except more the energy and also the engine have some updates so you push more. The DNA of the bike is very similar. You have to ride in a very similar way. You have to change a bit the electronics, because the engine is a bit different, but overall, you have to ride in a very similar way.
“Still is not instinctive for me to ride the bike,” he continued. Sometimes I have to stop and check some data and start again because it's so different than what I did in the last eight years. Overall, I have a good feeling. I mean, for sure there is margin.
“The chassis of the bike is so good but still I'm not exiting on the corner in a perfect way so still working but I'm happy to go to Malaysia like this. I'm happy to have the first test in Malaysia, I think is the best track to start the season and work in a lot of areas and see how is the bike.
“I have the 2022 but not the same one as the factory, because they were trying different things so still the situation is not clear. After this test, Yamaha will take some decision and I don't know if we will go in Malaysia still in this situation and decide the bike for next year. But overall, we are speaking about not big details.
“For me in this moment, I'm still working to adapt the bike, the style of the bike but it was good to feel more power. At the end, the work of these two days for me were perfect.
“Fabio has been always fast so that is the reference. I expected more or less what I felt. I think Fabio have a special feeling with the bike, is able to ride in a really good way but still I'm in a situation where I can be quite fast, also because I did the lap time with the medium rear, so it's not too bad, but is not instinctive. I have to study and watch the data a lot. Thinking about what I have to do in a different way because it's so different. You can't imagine how tough is to ride a bike in a completely different way than your normal approach so takes time.
“Unfortunately there was the wind in these two days. So we were able to ride and test, but you couldn't do a precise comparison because when there is that kind of wind is difficult.
“We are living in a different situation,” he continued, referencing the new world champion. “He is using the potential of the bike easily and he can check and work on the details. He can understand how much it was the improvement of the new material. Me, like I explained before, still I'm struggling to ride in a good way but I can see the potential so I'm in a completely different situation. He is able to use the potential of the bike because he just rode Yamaha, I can see easily he adapt to the characteristic of the bike.
“We have a similar feeling but I complain more on something and he complain more in some other thing but this is normal. Now is about adapting 100% to the DNA and characteristics of the bike.”
