Danilo Petrucci has branded late contact with his Ducati MotoGP stablemate Jorge Lorenzo in the German Grand Prix as “not very clever”, after it cost him time in his battle for the podium.
Petrucci – who will replace the Honda-bound Lorenzo next year – slotted in behind the Spaniard at the start, and continued to shadow him after eventual winner Marc Marquez took the lead.
The Pramac rider was able to get the better of his factory counterpart with five laps to go, though the pair made slight contact the tour prior on the exit of Turn 1 as Lorenzo recovered from running wide.
Petrucci said this moment was “not very clever”, and feels it cost both of them one second to the chasing Maverick Vinales, who managed to overhaul Petrucci on the penultimate lap.
“It has been difficult, because for sure Marc was faster,” Petrucci began.
“Valentino [Rossi] and Jorge were a little bit faster, but in the middle of the race I was in trouble because I had [Andrea] Dovizioso and [Alvaro] Bautista, and Maverick [Vinales] and some other riders in a row close to me.
“I say, 'No, I'm finishing my tyre,' but then I start to push and I try because the podium is there.
“I saw Jorge missing some corners and I say, 'Push now', and I saw the other riders making some gap to me, and I say, 'It's the day [for the podium].'
“But at the end I struggle with Jorge, he used some very, very strange lines, he touch me, was not so clever because we lost one second.
“Maverick on the penultimate lap passed me. I'm happy, best Ducati, best independent is ok. The podium was there, but we are downstairs now [instead of up on the podium].”
Lorenzo: Ducati went in the wrong direction with set-up
Lorenzo was the only rider to opt for the soft front tyre in Sunday's race, though blamed his rapid drop down to sixth in the closing stages on a loss of rear grip.
The Spaniard feels Ducati made a “mistake” in focusing on improving front grip, which ultimately led to his woes with his rear tyre.
“It's a pity because we were very competitive when we have rear grip, but unfortunately over all the weekend we tried to improve the front grip, losing grip on the rear trying to improve this lack of front grip we have normally with the Ducati.
“But we went too much in that direction, and especially the second part of the race was very bad when the rear tyre start to drop.
“I lost one second of the pace, that's when everyone overtook me and I started to lose the positions.
“I think we made a mistake on the settings, so at the next races we're going to try not to make the same [error].”
