Jorge Lorenzo spent seven seasons as Valentino Rossi’s teammate at Yamaha in MotoGP. The pair had a tense rivalry, but the former admits that he could not copy the latter’s braking style.
Lorenzo joined the premier class in 2008. Rossi was already a five-time MotoGP champion, and went on to win his sixth and seventh title in 2008 and 2009.
In 2010, Lorenzo beat the Doctor to win his first title, before Rossi had a dismal two-year stint with Ducati. Returning to Yamaha in 2013, Lorenzo said Rossi’s value was ‘in the gutter’ – he would not win the championship again.
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Jorge Lorenzo found it ‘impossible’ to copy Valentino Rossi’s braking style at Yamaha
Lorenzo kept secrets from Rossi as he looked to get the upper hand over his teammate at Yamaha. He won his second title while the Doctor was at Ducati in 2012, and claimed his third in the infamous 2015 season.
Lorenzo said Rossi was too ‘slow’ to win the title in 2015 as the pair and Marc Marquez played out a tense rivalry. While the Spaniard did get the edge over his legendary teammate on multiple occasions, he admits that he tried to copy his riding style, which did not work.
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Speaking on the Fast & Curious YouTube channel, Lorenzo explained how Rossi would apply the brakes much sooner while entering corners and gained up to ‘two tenths’ on entry. He admits that it was physically impossible for him to replicate.
“With Valentino, I did try to pick up things from him,” said Lorenzo. “There were some things that were impossible, because he, for example, when he was going flat out in sixth gear, before cutting the throttle completely, would already be applying the front brake a little.
“That is, he’d cut the throttle by 5%, but he’d already be on the front brake. And when I tried that, I realised it wasn’t physically possible because he has much bigger hands, so it came much more easily to him.
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“So I always had to cut the corner and then brake. That’s just to give you an example – I never managed to pick up that particular skill, though I did pick up others.
“But that technique for left-hand corners must require a natural talent at a cerebral level, a connection between his body and that side, which allows him to enter the corner much faster than the others and then turn just like the rest of them.
“So, he gains those two tenths of a second going into the bend, which is impossible for the others to replicate.”
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