Not “into” Mugello, but “after” Mugello. It seems like a small difference, but looking at the MotoGP calendar, it's clear that it's almost a month off, since the Assen weekend will start on June 28th. The Ducati market is in the home stretch by the Borgo Panigale managers' own admission, who have indicated the Italian Grand Prix as the turning point of the season.
The “big dance”
Mugello is a crucial moment in the championship: the sponsors are eagerly awaiting an appointment that serves to reward their investments, to bring guests for a walk in the garage, but above all to define the future. As a result, the manufacturers are also under pressure, because it's not enough to perform well on the track, you also need to be able to make people understand that the future is well set.
Here is the MotoGP ranking.
This applies to those who are behind, but it also applies to Ducati: one might be tempted to think that – in light of a dominated championship – the road is all downhill for the men in red, and instead they too must defend their competitive advantage. And the best way in terms of the market is to expertly direct the pilots' “dance”. As Oliveira explained, Desmosedici is the beauty of the dance hall, and everyone wants to go out together. Not everyone has the same possibilities and there are also those who might get tired.
I applicants
The story is now known: Martin wants the official Ducati or he will leave, Marquez wants a factory bike. Put that way, it would be enough to move Martin to Lenovo and have Marc take his place, but negotiations are never so linear. The comebacks of the eight-time world champion are more exciting than Jorge's leadership and there are suspicions that at the moment – and perhaps also in the immediate future – Marquez is a more profitable asset overall.
Ducati is doing everything it can to maintain both, but it doesn't mean it will succeed. If the scenario described above were to come true, Bastianini would almost certainly be lost, as he could migrate to Aprilia with a good salary and receive treatment as an official. Returning to Gresini would be a step backwards: more for the career prospects than for the results he could achieve. Enea is still relatively young: 26 years old, a moment in the life of a pilot who does not allow hasty backtracking. The rest of the market will trickle down.
Plan B
If, however, Marquez goes to the official team, in all likelihood it will be Martin who will move to Aprilia and the Prima Pramac team will be able to focus on an Italian chosen between Bastianini and Bezzecchi, or even choose to embrace the Yamaha challenge. This last hypothesis would be an extreme choice, a break that has little reason to exist. Remaining with the scenario with eight Ducatis on the track, there would still be space in Prima Pramac to welcome Fermin Aldeguer, and in VR46 a Bezzecchi-Morbidelli, or Di Giannantonio-Morbidelli combination could be envisaged.
In any case, this is truly Mugello week: who knows, maybe the results on the track will give the final push in one direction rather than the other.
