True. Would make sense that they offered him the seat though(IMO). He wicked fast and young. All I heard was he didn't like the "details". What those are will remain a mystery. You could guess it was the money but could equally be correct in assuming the details were a clear #2 in Ducati. Something Dovi would be more comfortable accepting vs AI. At this stage in their careers.
What I inferred from Iannone's discussion of it at yesterday's press conference was that Ducati wanted to keep him, but it wouldn't be on a factory team/terms. Again, my inference, not his statement.
I agree that he would be very good in that role. I'm reading into it that he may not have received full factory support if it was that role. Contract direct with the manufacturer doesn't always guarantee the newest bits. (Bradl on Honda, Redding on Honda, Pol on Yamaha, etc)
I have to disagree. Considering that Iannone came up with full factory support in the Pramac team, I can't imagine that they were going to demote him to a level that was even lower than when he was a rookie. (At Pramac, AI got access to the GP14.1 and 14.2 at the same time as Dovi) AI is young and hungry as hell. I think that Ducati wanted clear #1 and #2 roles in the team, and AI wasn't going to stand for that. We've all seen how difficult it has been for Yamaha to maintain two #1 riders, results aside. Ducati probably tried to avoid an issue before it became one by putting language in the contract that JLo is the #1. AI said no thanks and jumped to Suzuki where he will have #1 status, regardless of who his teammate is.
The pre-race press conference was interesting. It sounded like Iannone had the option to stay but he wanted to move to Suzuki to be the number 1 rider. I thought Jarvis really gave Pol and Bradley the business basically saying neither one of them were getting it done and that Pols results were below expectations.
I think Marquez' bike went down because Rossi ran him off the track. The kick was more like"take that motherfucker!"
Lorenzo never assaulted someone one track.....just saying, they all have the ability to act like babies, lots of ppl idolize Rossi, and he has more GP experience than anyone, he should be leading by example. I'd expect a hot headed youngster(Simoncelli etc.) To do something like Rossi did, but not a 35 yr old man, come on now.