“No friends in the paddock” - Pedro Acosta on MotoGP rivalry

Pedro Acosta feels he has “no friends in the paddock”, a situation he is happy with because it means he has no hesitation when attacking MotoGP rivals on track.

Acosta will leave KTM to form a much-anticipated line-up alongside reigning champion Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati team next season.

Although his fellow riders are generally “easy” to talk to, only one can ultimately win.

As such, Acosta feels "spicy" past rivalries involving the likes of Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau, or Mick Doohan and Alex Criville, should be the norm.

“Thankfully in MotoGP, with almost every rider it’s quite easy to have a conversation, easy to have a relationship,” Acosta told Motorsport.com.

“But at the end, everyone is here to get the same dream.

“And it's quite difficult, in my opinion, to have an honest relationship with somebody that wants exactly the same as you.

“Being honest, maybe I prefer to take a step back and not have any relationship.”

He added: “I feel that from day one, I have no friends in the paddock.

“But I'm happy because like this I can have no feelings with no one. I don't really care who I try to overtake or in what way I try to overtake.

“If you think about the past, more or less all the relationships were like this.

“Remember Sete with Valentino, or Criville with Doohan, it was not an easy relationship.

“Maybe this is also the spicy part that we are missing now in MotoGP.”

Acosta, who took his first Sprint victory this year but is still seeking a maiden MotoGP win after two and a half seasons, begins the final ten rounds of his KTM career seventh in the world championship.