Lorenzo didn't want to "pressure" crew into Ducati move

Motorsport.com revealed on Monday that the reigning champion will only take a sole member of his existing crew – long-time mechanic Juan Llansa – with him to Ducati next year.

It means Lorenzo will have a crew chief other than Ramon Forcada, who he has worked with since his premier class debut in 2008, for the first time in 2017. Forcada will instead remain at Yamaha to work with new signing Maverick Vinales.

Speaking about the situation after testing on Monday, Lorenzo said a combination of Yamaha’s good treatment of its employees and Ducati’s reluctance to reshuffle its existing line-up of engineers made it difficult to bring many of his crew members over.

"I tried to keep as many people from my current team as I could, but it was not possible,” explained Lorenzo.

“Ducati, given the complexity of the bike and their working method, and because they don't want to fire people, wants to keep the maximum amount of its engineers as possible.

"I asked my team who wanted to come with me, but I didn't want to pressure them because I know Yamaha is a very good place to work, they are offered a lot of benefits and they are very comfortable.

"Step by step we are building a team, the pieces are starting to fall in place, and I will have Juanito [Llansa] with me as always."

Bucking the trend

The trend for high-profile MotoGP rider moves in recent history has been for crew members to remain loyal to their riders when moving teams.

Valentino Rossi is the most notable example of this, having famously taken his core group of mechanics – including crew chief Jeremy Burgess until his replacement at the end of 2013 – from Honda to Yamaha, to Ducati and then back to Yamaha.

“There are riders who, after Rossi set the trend back in the day, always want to take their whole team with them,” added Lorenzo.

“Sometimes you tend to think that the people working with you are the best in the paddock.

“It would be positive from a confidence side, but you have to consider that sometimes your team is not always the best.

“I'm sure my team next year will be very competitive and very experienced."

Ducati has yet to confirm who will be Lorenzo’s chief mechanic in 2017.