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Alvaro Bautista's future is holding the Superbike market in check. Indeed, everyone is curious to know what the Spaniard will do next year, since his seat is certainly one of the most coveted within the paddock.
The two-time world champion has decided to take his time even though Simone Battistella is already hard at work on the future. In the week leading up to the Donington round, we caught up with his manager and had a chat about the future that awaits the world champion.
"Alvaro is having a more complicated start to the season than expected - he said - there are two reasons for this: the first is related to the improvement of the competition, since BMW has a package that is too competitive in my opinion without forgetting also the performance of Nicolò Bulega. Then there is the matter of ballast, which limits him in terms of harmony in riding the bike. Obviously I am sure that Ducati will do everything to put him in the best position."
On-the-spot question: do you think Bautista feels like continuing in 2025?
"Right now, Alvaro feels in very good shape, psychologically he is all fired up and motivated, plus he wants to face this difficult moment as he has done other times in the past. For a rider like him it doesn't make sense to stop and for Ducati it doesn't make sense to lose a two-time world champion. Therefore in my opinion it is right to continue."
At what point are we in the negotiations?
"There are two aspects: one is the rider's evaluation of himself, calculating his expectation, and then there is the team's evaluation of the rider. Of course, it never happens that these two aspects are equal in economic terms (smiles). But in the last two years there has always been harmony between Alvaro and Aruba, the relationship is very good, as a result there is no reason not to continue."
Isn't the matter of the contract renewal affecting him?
"Riders are used to handling these negotiation phases. We have just started talking with Aruba, we are at a preliminary stage but we are not worried because as said we are just at the beginning of the negotiation."
Between Donington and WDW can we say that everything will be decided?
"Exactly! I would say that between Donington and WDW we should be there."
Speaking instead of BMW, did Bautista expect it to be so strong with Toprak?
"BMW has been very good at taking advantage of the super concessions, bringing a bike on track that is too strong, as it allows Toprak to have an extra second. I think that is too much of an advantage, especially considering the level of the other BMWs. In the face of this, the competition is displaced, taking into account the ballast to Bautista, made specifically to hinder a rider. So on the one hand there is the technical advantage of BMW to revise and at the same time there is an insane regulation. I then want to add one thing."
Of course!
"In the last ten years so many experts were saying that small riders like Pedrosa and Alvaro have a distinct disadvantage, because they are disadvantaged in some parts of the lap. The fact that Alvaro won two world championships caused controversy, which didn't happen when Kawasaki won six titles."
When does this ballast affect him in your opinion?
"How much it affects only he knows in terms of feelings. The certainty is that now Bautista has extra kilos on the bike and they should not be there. Certainly that confidence he had a year ago is now gone. Because of his own weight, Bautista's straight-line advantage is 20 percent, but then there is another 80 percent of the track to cover. And in that case you don't have an advantage because in braking you have shorter levers and less weight to load on the tires while in cornering you have less levers to counteract the centrifugal force. Obviously I am Bautista's manager, however I think it is correct to emphasize different concepts."
Simone, after Misano, we first saw Bautista a bit switched off and very dejected. Do you think this is an episode and nothing more?
"He is a very balanced person, able to recover from negative moments and I think that is an extraordinary quality of his. At Misano the decisive factor was that the weekend did not have a solution while in the weekends before he always managed to recover despite an initial disadvantage. Maybe he was left with the disappointment of not having solved some problems, but we expect him to be ready for Donington."
