MotoGP, Iannone: "A mistake to leave Ducati, together the World Championship would have come sooner"

Andrea Iannone may or may not be liked, but he certainly does not leave one indifferent. His entrance into the Sepang paddock created the usual stir. Not only were fans lurking for an autograph or a selfie, other riders went to shake his hand, Bagnaia and Bezzecchi accompanied him on the walk down the track. "I'll have to spend the first practice session greeting everyone," joked Iannone, with a smile on his face that says it all about what he's feeling.

"I'm definitely very happy to be here and most of all grateful for giving me this chance to the VR46 team, to Ducati, to everyone who allowed me to be here ," he said, "It wasn't a given that in one year I would be able to do everything I had missed out on: I came back to racing, I got my first podium, then I won a race, and now I'm here in MotoGP. I have to say it's very exciting, I'm having an intense year."

In Sepang, where your career had threatened to end, you return to MotoGP. Do you believe in fate?
"I think it's a coincidence, it's fair to think so. In life there are coincidences. The important thing is to be here and to be able to enjoy myself."

It wasn't a given that you would be here, weren't you afraid that you could make a bad impression?
"I never make thoughtful decisions, I don't know if that's good or bad (laughs). I never really overthink things. When Valentino told me on the phone about this possibility, in my opinion it didn't even take me a thousandth of a second to say yes, I didn't even let him finish talking (laughs). It was instinct. Maybe someone else would have taken at least a day to think about it. I didn't. I only started thinking about it afterwards."

Afterwards?
"Yes, I started to think that I was going to come here without even doing a test, what a bummer. At Jerez I had a good time, journalists were asking me about my return to MotoGP and I was saying that no one had called me (laughs). I was saying if they called me I would think about it, which then was what I was supposed to do! (laughs) That's when I would find out what I had done! That's just the way I am."

You followed your heart.
"Sometimes it's beautiful and sometimes you find that you're in the middle of immense squabbles (laughs)."

Would you ever have thought of racing in a team having Valentino as the boss?
"A rider can dream about it. Maybe we could continue in the future if he wanted to. I do one more year in SBK, then I come here. It depends in what capacity, maybe I'll come and put stickers on the bikes (laughs)."

What did you say to each other in that phone call?
"He didn't understand why I wasn't answering the phone, but I was on a plane to go to Jerez. So he said, 'I think it's cool, there's a chance to ride our bike. The Ducati. MotoGP.' What was I supposed to say to him? It was cool yes! It was cool."

And then?
"I wrote to him after we had made the news official. Wait, I want to read you his messages (picks up phone, ed.). Here: 'come on we'll have fun. I can't wait to see you on the big Ducati! Are you ready for the heat?' (laughs). Everyone cares about me, I can feel it."

What does this comeback represent for you?
"The thing that has impressed me the most is that I have been welcomed in an incredible way, starting with the team. It is beautiful, wonderful, because it is not taken for granted. This team is incredible, it is on par with an official team of the ones I was used to in recent years. They are phenomenal and I'm sure I will learn a lot because this world has evolved so much and for the better. It's taken steps forward and it's nice to be able to have a yardstick back."

Now it's all good, you're racing in SBK, you're back to winning races, you have this chance in MotoGP, but in those four years of stopping, you never thought about giving up motorcycle racing?
"I think decisions should never be made either when you are too happy or when you are too angry. I never made a decision because it would not have been right, when you are suffering you are not lucid: suffering, anger prevails over everything. In truth I didn't even think I could come back, it all came naturally, I didn't forcefully seek it. It needed everyone's will, you can't fight windmills, alone you don't go anywhere. So I am happy that my world has embraced me back after so long."

What happens to you when you are on the motorcycle?
"Everything is the same as before, although you inevitably grow and mature. You know, my last years in MotoGP were difficult. I came to have a major ambition to always be able to fight for incredible positions as long as I was in Ducati. When I left I lost that whole group, but I didn't realize it until much later, and everywhere I went I never found that synergy. I always suffered from it, it made me sick. Ducati is the heart of my racing career, it's where I was born and where I left everything good behind."

Now you're back.
"For me it was fundamental this year not to leave Ducati, even though I had other proposals. I feel safer here because I know there are people who know me and love me. I feel at home."

Dall'Igna had reluctantly let you leave.
"In my opinion it was neither an intelligent nor a profitable divorce for both of us. Happening today, with the mentality I have now, I would never make that decision. There are always reasons why a marriage breaks up, but in hindsight I lost so much and they lost so much too: they could have won the World Championship much sooner than with Bagnaia. From 2017 to 2019 the bike was very competitive."

Now Ducati dominates, in the Sprint in Thailand there were 8 in front of everyone else. Is there also something of yours in this Desmosedici?
"Even Dall'Igna said so, it all started in those years. But I think all the riders who came after me continued to do an incredible job, though. I take my hat off and congratulations to Pecco who has realized the full potential of this bike and to all the guys who work on it, I know how much they work their ass off."