Why Suzuki desperately needs to find Brivio's MotoGP replacement

Davide Brivio's arrival as racing director at the Alpine Formula 1 team, which achieved its first victory under its new guise in Hungary last Sunday with Esteban Ocon, was announced on the eve of the MotoGP pre-season phase earlier this year and caught everyone at the Hamamatsu-based brand by surprise.

After the initial shock, the Japanese constructor's managers headed up by project leader Shinichi Sahara hastened to implement a plan. Probably due to lack of time and to avoid the remedy being worse than the disease, the decision was taken not to look outside the company to replace Brivio directly but to promote several members of its existing structure.

A committee of seven people from the different divisions - technical, logistics, communication - was set up, with technical figures Sahara and Ken Kawauchi among the names standing out.

Half a year later, the most widespread feeling within the workshop of the company indicates that some cohesion has also been lost with the departure of Brivio, such a key feature in the 'modus operandi' of Suzuki which in 2020 celebrated its first riders' title in 20 years with Joan Mir.

Proof of this disconnect is the discrepancy between the bosses - in particular Sahara - analysis of the situation and that of the majority of the crew, who consider it vital that Suzuki hires a team manager who makes decisions and can be held accountable for them.

"I think Davide did a fantastic job at Suzuki," Valentino Rossi noted at the end of last year, pointing out where Suzuki has been superior to Yamaha in recent seasons. "He is able to merge the work in Japan with a great job in Italy.

"Especially he is able to convince the Japanese to work together with the Europeans, and he has built a very strong team."

Shinichi Sahara, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Although Suzuki has not yet closed on a replacement for Brivio, it has been in talks with potential candidates. The main contacts have been with Pramac sporting director Francesco Guidotti, Petronas SRT's team manager Wilco Zeelenberg and his Ducati counterpart Davide Tardozzi.

"We will not be bringing in a team manager for the current season, because that move requires a lot of thought and planning," Sahara told Autosport a few weeks ago. "We already went through a last-minute and hasty decision just a few months ago when Davide announced his departure, and this time we prefer to take things more slowly."

On paper, the new seven-man management committee made perfect sense, as it was intended to encourage dialogue, debate and consensus-building on any major decisions affecting the team. But it soon became clear that it was flawed.

The members of Suzuki closest to Mir are beginning to have the feeling that the rider is getting impatient, to the point of beginning to consider the possibility of a change of scenery with a view to 2023 when his current contract expires

In Qatar at the Doha Grand Prix, most Suzuki members regretted the timidness with which Sahara defended Mir after his incident with Jack Miller. The Ducati rider made contact with Mir in the middle of the straight, a more than questionable manoeuvre which appeared born out of retaliation for Mir's aggressive overtake just a few corners earlier.

In that episode, the Japanese engineer's shortcomings in matters related to the political component of the championship - which have become so important in modern MotoGP - became evident.

PLUS: Why MotoGP's stewards must revisit Miller and Mir's Losail clash

On top of this, the creation of a satellite structure was one of the main battles Brivio fought in recent years, the Italian putting as much pressure as he could on the Suzuki board to make the project a reality. The fact that Sahara now combines the technical and team management functions in his role further paralyses the possibility of putting another two bikes on the track, despite having several interested parties.

With Rossi's VR46 squad and Gresini signing deals with Ducati for 2022 and SRT set to remain with Yamaha, Suzuki will remain without satellite bikes for at least the next two seasons.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

Aside from the specific moments of management shortcomings, such as at Losail, Suzuki's performance so far has been far from what one would expect from the reigning champion. If we take as a reference the best classified finishes and points of Suzuki's two riders, the differences compared to last season are minimal. At this point in 2020, Mir's 105 points had him second in the overall standings, just 10 points behind leader Fabio Quartararo.

On the eve of the 10th grand prix of the season this weekend in Austria, the reigning champion has 101 points, just four points less than at the time, but occupies fourth position in the standings. The gap to the leader, once again Quartararo, has grown to 55 points - a difference that makes clear the step forward Yamaha has made with its bike and the stagnation of Suzuki.

PLUS: Why Mir's title defence has stalled

This same reading is made by Mir himself, who already since winter testing insisted that the GSX-RR had fallen a little behind the new prototypes of the competition.

"It's very difficult for me to improve with the same bike as last year," Mir commented. "Suzuki has to work harder than they do and bring more stuff in. There are no parts arriving and I don't like that."

The Spaniard was not only referring to the ride height system that allows the rear of the bike to be lowered (Suzuki is the only bike currently without the device), which is crucial at the start and which most manufacturers also uses at the exit of certain corners to gain traction.

"That's what you can see, but there are more things that are not so obvious," Mir added. But that one thing that we can see, according to team-mate Alex Rins, is costing Suzuki anywhere up to half a second per lap depending on the circuit.

Mir's speech is relevant because the members of Suzuki closest to him are beginning to have the feeling that the rider is getting impatient, to the point of beginning to consider the possibility of a change of scenery with a view to 2023 when his current contract expires.

Honda already wanted to sign him when he made the jump to MotoGP in 2019 (HRC had a preferential option) and it would not be unreasonable for Alberto Puig to try a second time. But the consistency and seriousness of the rider make him attractive to anyone. The market is closing earlier and earlier nowadays, and the contracts of the main protagonists of the world championship looking ahead to 2023 - those that are not already closed - will be finalised before the end of this year.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images