Does Lorenzo Have A Career Left?

[DaveT319]

I know I'm late to the "party", but my take:

The injuries he has dealt with are no joke. Lingering pain will wear on a person.

...but...

I think that is secondary to something else. I think Marc Marquez broke him. I think his ego couldn't take it. Not only did Marquez come in and completely overshadow the 3-time MotoGP champion, but he looked like he was having so much fun doing it. Then he burned his bridges at Yamaha and suffered at Ducati. The only real option from there was Honda (because Suzuki just doesn't have the prestige, even though they're doing really well of late), and when he went there and did SO poorly on the same bike as Marquez, it had to be utterly demoralizing. I mean, last place in a couple races, light years behind your teammate? As a former champion, he just couldn't take it. Since there was no going back to Yamaha, retiring was really his only option. And the injuries gave him an honorable out.

It's a shame to see him go at a young age. He was the guy that stared down Rossi in his prime, and beat him. But he was still second fiddle at Yamaha to Rossi, so he went to Ducati, because Honda wasn't an option with Marquez there. He needed to be the #1. And when he couldn't meld with that bike - like so many others before him - being second at Honda was the only chance, and it failed miserably. If he could have gone back to Yamaha, I think he would have raced for years more. But as long as Rossi was still there, that wasn't going to happen, and he was too proud to go to a satellite team - a satellite team that won more races than the factory team, might I add. But that just wouldn't do. So instead, he retired at only 32. While Rossi continues into his 40s.

It's a loss. But the sport will move on. There are A LOT of racers eager to take his place.

 

[afm199]

He said in an interview that the thought of being paralyzed was pretty much the issue.

 

[jaybocc2]

On his instagram he really seems to be enjoying the luxurious life of not having to be at a racetrack every weekend

 

[NSR500]

https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/935617/1/lorenzo-returns-yamaha-motogp-test-rider

And... Borenzo is back!

Geez, I wish Hobo Dollars was like a crypto currency because I'd have about 10 of them.

 

[afm199]

Well good for him. That's a bit more pressure on Rossi.

 

[clutchslip]

Wow. I really didn't think he would come back to ride. Particularly, not immediately. My guess is that the bike will improve faster with him back there, but the other Yamaha riders will have to make adjustments. It takes huge confidence to just lean in with late trail-braking and minimal braking when upright.

 

[DonJigweed]

My guess is that the bike will improve faster with him back there, but the other Yamaha riders will have to make adjustments.

Your guess is wrong. Exactly backwards in fact. Factory racers do not make adjustments to accommodate the direction dictated by the test riders.

 

[clutchslip]

Your guess is wrong. Exactly backwards in fact. Factory racers do not make adjustments to accommodate the direction dictated by the test riders.

So why the hell spend money for test riders? Seems pointless, does it not? And why would Yamaha hire Lorenzo to test, if they didn't want his influence. You could just do the testing, by your statements, could you not? It wouldn't matter.

 

[budman]

My take is test riders get work done that MotoGP rules for practice don’t allow due to time constraints.

Swapping parts etc. takes time. Time the actual racers don’t have on test days.

Jorge is still very competent. He is not going to be way off competitive times. I wonder if he will be fast enough and feel good enough to give a Pirro/Ducati sort of one off.

Solid move by Yamaha.

I think KTM grabbing Pedrosa was smart too.
We don’t get to hear the inside story but if the factory is paying a million bucks or more there has to be value there.

 

[FXCLM5]

Your guess is wrong. Exactly backwards in fact. Factory racers do not make adjustments to accommodate the direction dictated by the test riders.

what gp you watch?

kinda opposite of what I view as a gp test riders role......

 

[stangmx13]

Test riders validate parts - faster, slower, or no change. This impacts the development process because “faster” is positive reinforcement. So things Jorge finds to be faster will be made more often than slower parts.

However, factory riders will never race something untested. If they aren’t faster or don’t see any long term benefit, the part goes back. They’ll make subtle riding adjustments to get the most out of a part. But we know no rider can just flip a switch and ride like someone else. So Jorge-only parts, if they ever exist, will prob get sent back a lot and Yamaha will question how much time and $ theyve wasted. But I don’t rly c that happening.

Test riders also test diff electronics settings. Jorge seemed to be very sensitive to the spec ECU on Michelins.
So Yam should know quickly what doesn’t work. I see this as a big positive for them, as they still don’t have the same handle on the ECU and tires compared to HRC or Duc.

 

[DonJigweed]

what gp you watch?

kinda opposite of what I view as a gp test riders role......

If Jorge has a smooth as butter riding style and Mav and Fabio have a more abrupt, hard braking style, do you think Yamaha is going to drive direction of the bike to suit Jorge's style, and as slip says, "the other Yamaha riders will have to make adjustments?"

 

[Map8]

I remember Maverick winning three of his first five or six races on the Yamaha in 2017. When he was struggling in 2018, Viñales publicly stated he wanted the bike to feel just like it did at the beginning of 2017. Considering Viñales' success with with the sweet-handling Suzuki and Forcada as his Yamaha crew chief back then, it's not a big stretch to think Lorenzo's influence was a big part that early success.

Zarco stated he copied Lorenzo's smooth style to be successful on the Yamaha.

Seems very possible Lorenzo's feedback will improve the bike for Mav and Fabio.

 

[DonJigweed]

I remember Maverick winning three of his first five or six races on the Yamaha in 2017. When he was struggling in 2018, Viñales publicly stated he wanted the bike to feel just like it did at the beginning of 2017. Considering Viñales' success with with the sweet-handling Suzuki and Forcada as his Yamaha crew chief back then, it's not a big stretch to think Lorenzo's influence was a big part that early success.

Zarco stated he copied Lorenzo's smooth style to be successful on the Yamaha.

Seems very possible Lorenzo's feedback will improve the bike for Mav and Fabio.

No doubt that it is very possible his feedback will improve the bike, else Yamaha probably wouldn't have hired him. But we were talking about who drives the direction of development, the racers or the test riders. If Mav and Fab ride very similar to Jorge, it's a moot point, but if they don't I don't believe Yamaha is going to develop the bike in the direction that Jorge says is faster and then on race day tell Mav and Fabio, "Sorry, you guys need to make some adjustments," which is what it sounded like slip was saying.

 

[kelsodeez]

Its really simple.

The last time Yamaha built a bike for Jorge, everyone who rode it was able to win on it. That should tell you everything you need to know about what "direction" they are going to go in.

 

[stangmx13]

Jorge's ideal bike/setup demanded high corner speed while still producing a good drive. thats probably the most difficult riding style to setup a bike for. no other factory has built a bike that can accomplish that. Duc and HRC still accomplish turning by holding the brake lever on harder and later, killing corner speed. Suz accomplish high corner speed by sacrificing a little drive. when Jorge got the most out of the M1, it was the best bike on the grid because it could do something no other bike could. any other rider should be stoked to ride such a bike.

Jorge's M1 did sacrifice a little bit of braking performance to accomplish that. he still won with it because maximizing performance in the braking zone is the smallest area for improvement on a racetrack. assuming everything else is the same, harder braking gains your hundredths of a second. increased corner speed is tenths and increased drive can be many tenths. Jorge's compromise was smaller than everyone else's.

 

[clutchslip]

I guess some people didn't watch Lorenzo struggle on the Ducati and change his style to ride the bike. Ducati changed the seat for him, but they didn't change the bike to fit Lorenzo. He, as a 5 time world champion, had to adjust. He adjusted poorly to the HRC. Marquez adjusts better, and MM has discussed his adjustment to the Honda over the different iterations. The best riders DO change their riding, otherwise they wouldn't be the best.

Lorenzo is testing because he made the Yamaha fast and they won a ton of races with him riding. They want his input on bike design or they would have hired brotogp or DonJigweed to 'test parts'. Lorenzo expects to be giving the engineers direction at Yamaha. He says so, right here: Jorge back on the M1

KTM is not paying Dani Pedrosa to test parts. He is there because he knows what makes a bike fast, and he is helping KTM develop a motorcycle to go fast. A PORTION of his duties will be to test new parts. Don't believe it? Here:
Pedrosa-KTM-Sepang

Riding the latest generation KTM RC16 – which has been constructed and developed primarily from the input of former Repsol Honda rider – Pedrosa powered to a 1m 59.841s lap time. As a reference, Fabio Quartararo’s pole position in 2019 was a 1m 58.303s with Valentino Rossi’s race lap record being a 1m 59.661s.

 

[stangmx13]

rider design input practically ends at "I could go faster if the bike did XYZ". they ask for grip, stability, feel, adjustment to inputs, etc. im sure Dani and Jorge have the experience to make comments on frame stiffness and other more complicated parts of setup. but theres a huge difference btw "the front end feels too stiff over the bumps in T5" and knowing how much stiffness to remove from where on a motorcycle. racers are not engineers. the internet seems to forget that a lot. plus blindly following exactly what a racer says is a great way to chase your tail and go slow, because feelings lie.

 

[Racinfrk]

I found this to be a little bit interesting:

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/rossi-pushed-lot-yamaha-motogp-114023920.html

I know Rossi was upset when Yamaha got rid of Folger as a test rider. So, maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[FXCLM5]

If Jorge has a smooth as butter riding style and Mav and Fabio have a more abrupt, hard braking style, do you think Yamaha is going to drive direction of the bike to suit Jorge's style, and as slip says, "the other Yamaha riders will have to make adjustments?"

Yes, it's about winning. And you gotta be the fastest on the track to win.

Read some rider interviews, they are always adapting to the bike..... Adapt faster if you wanna win :laughing