Scott Redding has expressed his frustration at losing crew chief Giacomo Guidotti to Dani Pedrosa's corner of the Repsol Honda garage for 2017, and says, “it's different looking at someone knowing they don't want to be with you next year.”
While HRC has yet to announce or confirm Guidotti's move, with Pedrosa stating in the post-race press conference, “We will talk later about this”, Redding – and other sources – confirmed the Italian will replace the Spaniard's current crew chief Ramon Aurin ahead of '17.
“Giacomo I think is going so he's got two broken legs. That's probably why you didn't see him walking,” joked Redding on Sunday, after a difficult 13th race of the year in which he finished 15th.
“I don't really know who I'm going to have. When you see all these people changing around it leaves me with f**k all again. We'll see how it turns out over the next two, three, four races.
On whether this was a distraction, he continued, “A little bit. It doesn't really distract me but it's frustrating. Your crew chief decides that he wants to go somewhere else.
“So again, it's a different feeling. It's different looking at someone knowing that they don't want to be with you next year. So that's the main thing. It's not a distraction, more looking at someone in the eyes knowing they're not going to be there next year.”
On potential alternatives to Guidotti, with whom he has a good working relationship, Redding says he has no one in mind at present.
“I don't even know who's available. Everyone is moving to someone else. I'm sure that some will come around. I hope that person is good enough to do the job and not have another .... year. We'll just see what comes over time.”
Rumours had circulated about Guidotti's movements on Friday afternoon. At that point, Redding explained how he was made aware of Honda's interest in the Italian after the summer break, but was hopeful Guidotti would stay.
From Redding's comments after FP2, tt would appear the Englishman learnt of his crew chief's final decision between Friday and race day. “He says he's going to stay by my side,” said Redding on Friday.
“Whether he tells the truth or not is a different story. He seems good, he seems loyal. I think we've bonded really well this year. It would be a shame to lose him to then next year have that same feeling. We'll see what goes on.
“I knew this three, four, five weeks ago. It depends. We'll see what comes out and what's best for his future. We have a good feeling. We're not fighting every other weekend like a lot of people are.”
Under the glaring Italian sun, Redding endured a weekend to forget. Having qualified 17th, the 23-year old struggled to find any feeling with Michelin's new front tyre, while he found the GP15 to be slow in the early laps with a full tank of fuel.
“It was more the beginning of the race. I'm supposed to have one of the fastest bikes on the grid and I can't pass the slowest bike on the grid. It's frustrating. The only way to pass the Aprilia was to out-brake it. But then I'd go wide. He'd pass me back. I'd go wide. He'd pass me back.
“Then I just started closing the front in a load of places, like turn five and turn six. So I backed it up a little bit. I just didn't get a rhythm until the last six or seven laps. I don't know why, but the bike was heavy. It was hard to find the time to go. Everyone was going away from me and I couldn't catch anyone at the beginning. It was a bit frustrating.
“It's strange. It [the front tyre] was always changing. What I had in the race I didn't have all weekend. What I had in the weekend I didn't have in the race. They were the same tyres but with the different temperatures, also the weight with the fuel tank is different.
“I don't know. It's something I've got to learn a little bit. I always seem to struggle at the beginning of the race. I don't know where to go. The bike always seems to sort itself out at the end of the race but at the beginning is where we struggle.”
It is believed Pedrosa's crew chief Ramon Aurin will move across the Marc VDS squad to work with Jack Miller in 2017.
