Dovizioso: The 3 factory Yamaha riders in a completely different situation
Reigning champion Fabio Quartararo, Monster Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli and RNF Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso all have the same factory bike specification for the 2022 MotoGP season.
But, according to Dovizioso, the similarities in their situation heading into this weekend's Qatar season opener end there.
"The three factory Yamaha riders are living in a completely different situation; me, Frankie and Fabio," Dovizioso said. "Because Fabio won the title and he has the feeling with the bike at 100%, he is able to use the best potential of the bike easily.
"Frankie didn't really race last year [due to his knee injury] and still has to understand, and he has a contract for next year, so in my opinion he is trying to stay calm and work in the best way, because this is his real situation.
"And my situation is I have to adapt to a completely different bike to what I used in the last eight years [at Ducati].
"I felt some very positive things from the bike and some limits from the bike. So I think I can understand easily both riders, what they are saying and why. But in the way we are riding the bike, all three are completely different. So all three have not the same issues.
"In my opinion, the grip is the biggest [issue] for everybody, no matter the riding style, but for some riders it can be bigger or smaller because the way you ride is completely different."
Although Quartararo's wish for more horsepower from the 2022 machine has been thwarted, he remained among the fastest in pre-season testing and a clear step ahead of his fellow M1 riders.
But the Frenchman also warned he was already on the limit of the bike in some areas.
"I can understand what Fabio says, also because he won the title with a great season last year, but at the end of the season he felt a bit on the limit," said Dovizioso.
The Italian, preparing to start his first full Yamaha season since 2012 and first Qatar race since 2019, admits he isn't sure what to expect from this weekend.
"The tests are always very strange. Even more so because we did them in a strange situation in Indonesia," he said. "My feeling improved a bit, especially on the braking, but still I'm not that confident or comfortable on the bike. So the situation is not that clear to me.
"I also never rode the Yamaha here. So I'm really happy to be here, but I don't know if I can be really competitive. In my opinion I can be competitive, but after what's happened in the test, it's very difficult for me to know.
"So I will approach the weekend in a really open way. Also because we don't know the situation of the track and the first round is also always a big tension from everybody."
The 2018 and 2019 Qatar winner added that the lack of the usual pre-season testing in Qatar is compounded by moving the night race time forwards by two hours to 6pm, meaning the majority of this weekend's MotoGP practice sessions will be in daylight.
"I don't not that agree about the timing of the practice, but it's something we already spoke about in the past, there were some riders who pushed a lot to race as soon as possible for the humidity," Dovizioso said.
"But I think [6pm] is a bit too early, and you can't really work during the weekend, because practice 1 and 3 are useless. You just ride because you have to ride, not because you can really work, because the conditions are really different [to the race].
"So it will be a very strange weekend for everybody."
As well as dealing with the day-night mix, the 2022 rookies - including Dovizioso's team-mate Darryn Binder on the 2021 A Spec bike - will be the first in many years to face their debut MotoGP race weekend without any prior testing at the same track.
