Suzuki MotoGP boss Davide Brivio says the team's “philosophy” regarding young riders was behind its signing of Moto2 rookie Joan Mir to partner Alex Rins next year.
After Honda failed to take up an option on a pre-contract it had signed with 2016 Moto3 champion Mir, Suzuki made a play for the current Marc VDS Moto2 star, and signed him on a two-year deal to replace Andrea Iannone.
Suzuki had also been tipped to sign the now Honda-bound Jorge Lorenzo, but Brivio admits the Hamamatsu manufacturer's management wanted the team to follow its “strategy” of nurturing young talent, like it did with Maverick Vinales in 2015 and '16, and currently with Rins.
Brivio also conceded dropping Iannone, who scored back-to-back podiums for the team in Texas and at Jerez, was a “difficult decision to take”.
“First of all, it's always a difficult decision to take,” Brivio said in an interview with motogp.com.
“Of course, especially of late, we had the good races with Andrea, which was showing some competitiveness.
“But, discussing with Suzuki management in the company, it's also in our strategy now, in our philosophy to grow up riders for the future, and also to be honest when we saw the opportunity to have Joan Mir with us, we wanted to take it because we really feel that he is one of the potential top riders of the future.
“We think Alex Rins is also one of the potential riders for the future, and if we can combine it with another one at that level, then I think we might have a very strong team in the future."
He added: “So, the strategy, the idea behind this, is to create a strong package for the future. The strong package, you start with the riders, which we think in maybe a couple of years they will be ready for top positions.
“Then we have to continue to develop the bike, because the bike needs to make a next step of competitiveness, of technical development.
“And also we continue with the team, because we can't forget that we are a relatively young team.
“So we are working very hard on all the areas – riders, bike, team, in order to prepare our future and try to fight as soon as possible with the major manufacturers.”
Iannone will join former Suzuki rider Aleix Espargaro at the factory Aprilia team next year, after signing a two-year deal with the Italian marque.
