Andrea Dovizioso admits he used “too much rear tyre” trying to pass Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo, and this “cost” him the chance to fight for Austrian MotoGP victory.
Dovizioso led into the first corner, but was forced wide at Turn 3 and fell behind Lorenzo. The Italian spent most of the race shadowing the Spaniard, but was unable to execute a pass.
A mistake at the first turn with 10 laps remaining dropped him back from Lorenzo and Marc Marquez, and he was unable to get back on terms with the leading duo.
Conceding this moment did not help his cause, Dovizioso admits he was “already in trouble” as he had burned through his medium rear rubber in his futile bid to pass Lorenzo.
“I used maybe too much rear tyre to try to overtake Jorge, and I couldn't overtake him,” third-placed Dovizioso said.
“I was faster in that part of the race, but I couldn't really prepare in the best way the overtake. That cost me for sure, because I have to slow down too early, 10 laps till the end.
“I did a small mistake, but already I was in trouble with the right side of the rear tyre. Very disappointed, because we had the chance to bring more points in our championship.
“But in the end, when you make just two practices in the dry this can happen. This means we didn't take the right decision, but sometimes we are good, sometimes we are not perfect, and when you don't make the perfect decision it is good because you can learn for the next round.
“This is something we did from last year, and it's worked.”
Dovizioso says he was “a little bit worried” to see Marquez bolt into the distance in the early laps, but soon realised he could challenge the Honda rider – though admits he doesn't know if his tyres would have lasted had he been able to overtake Lorenzo.
“At the beginning I was a little bit worried, because I didn't expect,” Dovizioso, now fourth in the standings and 72 points adrift of Marquez, added.
“But after seven, eighth laps I understood he didn't have a better speed than us. So I was focused on Jorge, not on Marc.
“I think if I was able to overtake Jorge, my race change a little bit, but we'll never know.
“I don't know if I can really save the tyre more than what we did, and be fast until the end of the race.”
