Why Dovizioso is more of a temporary fix than a Yamaha gamble

Just a few months ago, the door appeared firmly shut on Andrea Dovizioso ending his sabbatical in 2022 and returning to MotoGP full-time. But circumstances in recent weeks at Yamaha and with the Sepang Racing Team have presented the Italian with the opportunity he has been searching for.

Yamaha team boss Lin Jarvis confirmed during the British Grand Prix weekend that Dovizioso's imminent comeback was scheduled for next weekend's San Marino GP at Misano with a view to continuing into 2022. This came just days after SRT announced it would be quitting grand prix racing outright at the end of 2021 - a move that was expected for its Moto2 and Moto3 squads following title sponsor Petronas' decision to pull out at the end of the year.

When the Petronas exit was confirmed, at the time it looked like SRT would gain a new title sponsor in Italian company WithU and would only get non-factory 'B-spec' Yamahas for Moto3 graduate Darryn Binder and either Xavi Vierge or Jake Dixon. SRT had planned to keep its current set-up of one factory bike and one 'A-spec' M1 - what would have been a 2021 bike - but Maverick Vinales' shock decision to quit Yamaha at the end of the year back in June necessitated Yamaha to promote SRT's prized asset Franco Morbidelli to the factory squad.

PLUS: The rider dilemma facing Petronas SRT for MotoGP 2022 

But with SRT's preferred options in Raul Fernandez and Marco Bezzecchi from Moto2 slipping through its fingers, the Malaysian squad's prospects for 2022 took a sudden nose dive and Petronas ultimately decided to take its money elsewhere. SRT will now become a new squad run by current management, details of which will be announced at Misano, which will ensure the status quo of bike spec rather than the worst-case scenario B-spec bikes.

As for Dovizioso's own hopes, a test ride deal with Aprilia looked like his ticket back to the MotoGP grid in 2022. But Vinales' Yamaha exit - which was brought forward with immediate effect after he tried to deliberately damage his bike's engine in the Styrian GP last month - led Aprilia to signing him for next year and ended Dovizioso's options with the Italian marque, although it appears the 15-time premier class race-winner wasn't looking to commit regardless.

Andrea Dovizioso, Aprilia

Photo by: Aprilia Racing

The project that will take over the reins of Yamaha's satellite team from 2022 onwards will give Dovizioso access to a factory-backed M1. The stars have aligned to give him the credible circumstances for a comeback he has been working towards since losing his Ducati ride at the end of 2020.

But the circumstances that have led to Dovizioso's signing for the remainder of the 2021 season and into 2022 under the new entity SRT will operate as, invites his return to be seen as a temporary solution rather than as a medium-term project.

The traumatic divorce between Vinales and Yamaha precipitated a series of moves that opened the slot through which the championship runner-up to Marc Marquez in 2017, 2018 and 2019 has slipped in. After Casey Stoner, the only MotoGP world champion to be crowned champion on a Ducati, Dovizioso has been the company's most successful rider in the championship.

But his eight-year spell at Ducati, which ended acrimoniously last year, was not exactly marked by calm - but rather by tension in his relationship with general manager Gigi Dall'Igna. His undisputed leadership regularly generated friction with Dovizioso, who on many occasions did not feel sufficiently listened to or particularly valued.

Most rivals consider that Dovizioso's arrival at Yamaha is more the result of the economic situation than an express desire of the brand, which is totally committed to Quartararo. Key insiders at Ducati, Honda and Suzuki believe that his arrival at Yamaha is a temporary solution to fill one of the two vacancies

Dall'Igna's sporting management, first with Andrea Iannone and then when he signed Jorge Lorenzo in 2017 on an agreement that assured him of a salary 10-fold larger than that of team-mate Dovizioso - further tightened a rope that the eruption of COVID ended up breaking as Ducati looked to cut back on big-money rider contracts (Dovizioso having signed a more lucrative contract in 2018).

The decision-making is much more dissipated at Yamaha, where no one person has the power enjoyed by Dall'Igna at Ducati. That should make Dovizioso's move much smoother, and allow Yamaha to extract all the potential from a rider who offered Marquez his sternest challenge in MotoGP in recent years.

One might think that if there is one MotoGP manufacturer that doesn't need much help, it is Yamaha. Fabio Quartararo, signed to the factory team for 2021 to replace SRT-bound Valentino Rossi, has won five times so far this season and holds a commanding 65-point championship lead on an M1 that is a clear step forward from its inconsistent predecessor.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team, MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

But what has happened with Honda in the last two years invites Yamaha to remain alert.

It has won seven world titles since the modern MotoGP era began in 2002 with Rossi and Lorenzo, its success continuing with the arrival of Vinales in 2017 and into the present day with Quartararo and Morbidelli - having mustered 103 victories between them.

In 2021, however, the runaway success enjoyed by Quartararo is a model similar to that experienced by Honda with Marquez, the undisputed leader of the project and the only rider capable of winning with the RC213V. This circumstance has greatly penalised Honda since Marquez badly broke his right arm in 2020.

In joining SRT, Dovizioso will finish this season riding an obsolete M1 based on the 2019 model that has not received a single update so far. This is the price he will have to pay to have an official M1 in 2022.

"These remaining races of 2021 will be a kind of test for Andrea, who hasn't ridden the bike, doesn't know the team and doesn't know the tyres," Dovizioso's agent Simone Battistella tells Autosport. "He will be up against very experienced riders, so what comes next will be a preparation for 2022."

Despite being aware of his client's fluke, Battistella believes that leaving Ducati was the right thing to do.

"That story was exhausted, because it was clear to us that they were never going to give him what he needs to be able to fight for a [championship] win."

With that statement, one wonders: will Yamaha give it to him?

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Judging by the opinion of the rivals, most of them consider that Dovizioso's arrival at Yamaha is more the result of the economic situation than an express desire of the brand, which is totally committed to Quartararo. Key insiders at Ducati, Honda and Suzuki believe that his arrival at Yamaha is a temporary solution to fill one of the two vacancies.

"First, SRT found itself with a team without riders, which then went on to have neither riders nor a sponsor," reasoned a competitor.

Having transformed the Desmosedici into a bike more people could ride, it's also not unreasonable to believe Dovizioso will be able to unlock the 'friendliness' of the M1 that has gone missing in recent seasons

In fact, it all came together thanks to Vinales parting ways with Yamaha with immediate effect ahead of the British GP. That has worked wonders for the company, which will save around 10 million euros. That is the purse it will have to manage its satellite team, once the Petronas exit materialises. In 2022, Dovizioso's salary will be around two million euros.

"It is clear that Andrea is not returning to racing for the money, but because he finds the project and the bike attractive and believes he can be competitive," says Battistella. "The break he has taken has allowed him to recharge his batteries."

Dovizioso's years on the Ducati will certainly prove useful to Yamaha, particularly over the winter as it looks to develop a stronger engine - an area where Ducati remains mighty. Having transformed the Desmosedici into a bike more people could ride, it's also not unreasonable to believe Dovizioso will be able to unlock the 'friendliness' of the M1 that has gone missing in recent seasons.

But the convenience of Dovizioso's signing also means he's not an investment being made by Yamaha, and given the success it has had with Quartararo and pretty likely to have with Morbidelli as a factory rider, the Japanese marque's eye will be firmly locked on the young superstars working there way up the ladder looking towards 2023 and beyond...

Fabio Quartararo, Petronas Yamaha SRT, Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images