The revolution behind Aprilia's rise from MotoGP tail-ender to pack-leader

At the end of 2018, Aprilia announced the addition of a figure coming from Ferrari's Formula 1 team, with a view to the following season. Massimo Rivola played different roles at the Scuderia, most notably the position of sporting director that he held between 2009 and 2016, before going on to head the Ferrari Driver Academy.

Through him passed the reports that gave the definitive boost to Charles Leclerc's rise to F1. Rivola's signing for the most popular racing arm of the Piaggio group had a restorative effect on a structure that was until then going from displeasure to displeasure, a situation aggravated by the doping sanction imposed on Andrea Iannone in 2019.

The positivity Rivola brought goes beyond his specific knowledge. On the one hand his entry on the scene freed Romano Albesiano from sporting management, so that the top technical manager could focus on the RS-GP's optimisation and development. In parallel, the influence of the former Ferrari man in the F1 paddock was key to convincing some key players of the Noale brand's resurrection. In just two seasons, it has gone from the doldrums to stardom, with Aleix Espargaro as the visible face of a project that aspires to reach the very top.

In 2020, Aprilia finished the world championship in the last position of the constructors' standings. But having just ticked over the halfway point of the 2022 campaign it figures at the top of that table. Espargaro sits second in the riders' standings, having taken his and the marque's first MotoGP victory in Argentina plus an additional four rostrum appearances. As a result, he is now just 21 points from championship leader Fabio Quartararo following last month's Dutch Grand Prix.

On the other side of the Aprilia garage, Maverick Vinales scored his breakthrough first podium on the RS-GP when he was third at Assen. The Spaniard represents Aprilia's first 'big name' signing, having been offered sanctuary when his relationship with Yamaha crumbled to nothing midway through last year. While it is a match that is largely circumstantial, it showed Aprilia's progress was enough to start piquing interest.

At the end of 2020, when Iannone was handed a four-year ban for doping, Aprilia was left with no options to keep Espargaro in 2021. It tried to court an interested Cal Crutchlow, who turned it down as it insisted on awaiting the verdict of Iannone's doping trial, while Andrea Dovizioso felt a sabbatical was a better option than an RS-GP upon his Ducati exit.

And when it tried to secure several top Moto2 names, including the likes of Marco Bezzecchi and Joe Roberts, it was declined. Now Aprilia goes into the 2023 campaign fielding four bikes having joined forces with RNF Racing, which has turned its back on Yamaha, as well as retaining Espargaro and Vinales on two-year deals at its factory outfit.

Rivola has been instrumental in overseeing Aprilia's transformation

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Antonio Jimenez, the highest authority on Espargaro's side of the garage and one of the most experienced members of the world championship paddock, is in no doubt about the extent of Rivola's influence in bringing the Aprilia project to its current status.

"Massimo brought a lot of positive things," Jiminez tells Autosport. "He is a conciliatory person, who tries to motivate and convince through conversation rather than imposition. He is very committed to creating a good atmosphere within the team, and that is very important.

"In addition, his hiring allowed Romano [Albesiano] to focus on what he likes. And then, it was also vital that, with Massimo, other key players arrived who have now joined him from F1."

Jimenez refers to the figures of Marco de Luca and Stefano Romeo, both of whom have prior links to Ferrari, in the golden age of the Maranello team with Michael Schumacher at the helm.

"Massimo is very good at creating unity within the team. Unlike other managers, he is very conciliatory and tries to convince through dialogue" Toni Cuquerella

"Aprilia now works with a system that comes from F1," Jimenez explains in reference to the aerodynamics, with de Luca at the helm, and the electronics headed by Romeo. "Those who came from there had to adapt their four-wheel mentality to a two-wheel mentality."

The introduction of simulation systems and the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools have been decisive in the revitalisation of a prototype that is currently seen as the most balanced on the grid.

"All this process of change," Jimenez adds, "has also been possible thanks to the role of Aleix, who is the absorbent cotton test when it comes to evaluating new developments and approving or rejecting them."

As a result of his nature as a person, Rivola has left friends wherever he has gone. One of them is Toni Cuquerella, who worked with him at Ferrari when he was chief race engineer between 2015-17, and with whom he also shares a devotion for motorcycles.

Aprilia and Ducati, two European MotoGP manufacturers, appear to have stolen a march on their Japanese rivals

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

"Massimo is very good at creating unity within the team," explains the Mahindra Formula E chief engineer and DAZN F1 commentator. "Unlike other managers, he is very conciliatory and tries to convince through dialogue. He also has a lot of experience in resource management, and he will surely propose viable investments for development."

The most recent results allow us to conclude that Aprilia and Ducati are a step ahead of the Japanese teams. Their traditional methods have been thrown into doubt, with many believing them to be obsolete.

PLUS: Why Honda and Yamaha have been left behind in MotoGP's new era

"Aprilia's way of working is different from that of, for example, Honda," says a Noale employee, who in recent years has worked at Honda. "Here [at Aprilia] logically there are departments and working groups, but we all know what the others are working on. It's the way we all get involved and help each other.

"Basically, because what some people do influences or can influence what others do. At Honda, on the other hand, the people in one division have no idea what the people in another division are working on."

This authoritative voice from the Aprilia garage credits Albesiano with that restructuring, as well as highlighting his open-mindedness: "Unlike other bosses, Romano may not be convinced of an idea you put to him, but he lets you run with it if you think it will work. That shows that, to him, what matters is winning, and that he is capable of leaving his ego to one side."

MotoGP will return in a month's time for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It is there, just a year ago, that Espargaro scored Aprilia's first podium in the MotoGP era. That was the starting point of a meteoric progression and nobody knows how far it can go.

How high can Aprilia rise in its charge up the MotoGP ranks?

Photo by: Dorna