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A video has surfaced a few days ago showing an incident that took place in the paddock of the Red Bull Ring, which has Davide Tardozzi involved on one side and an Aprilia crew chief (whose name we don't know) on the other. In the video in question (which you can see HERE), the crew chief is holding an iPad and taking a very close shot of the tail on Marco Bezzecchi's Ducati that, during the pit walk, was parked just outside the pits.
He obviously wasn't simply taking a photo, because he wouldn't have chosen such a bulky and visible device. So, the suspicion that what he was actually doing was 3D-scanning the shape of the bikes. Davide Tardozzi dismissed the crew chief and then summoned Romano Albesiano to the garage for clarification. The following is the interview by our colleagues at Speedweek with the Ducati manager.
"It wasn't just about the VR46's Ducatis. This guy scanned Yamaha's and Pramac's bikes. Someone then saw him doing the same thing in front of the VR46 garage and filmed it. He went around all the bikes with the iPad, sometimes within 10 centimeters of the bikes, and in front of everyone. He did this without informing his bosses. At Aprilia they said they knew nothing about it. We also have a video of him scanning a Yamaha M1."
There's no doubt about what the crew chief was doing.
"One of our guys was behind him, so we have a video of the screen of his iPad, and that's why we know he scanned the bikes with a specific program. Romano Albesiano had no idea of his initiative. I hope they fire the guy. Top management knew nothing about it. Romano was also very upset. He's not stupid enough to send someone in an Aprilia T-shirt to do the scans."
It certainly wasn't a great idea.
"I don't know the guy. I've never seen him before. Maybe he's from the aerodynamics department. He probably wanted to be smart, but he's probably the biggest fool of them all! I told him he was doing something that wasn't allowed. He didn't say a word, didn't show any emotion. For me, the matter is settled. Aprilia apologized, but it's not right."
