While Valentino Rossi has found the top step of the podium already this year at Yamaha, his ex-teammate Nicky Hayden has lost his factory Ducati ride effective the end of this season. More than likely, Hayden is headed for WSB in 2014, while Rossi will return on one of the best factory weapons in the MotoGP category. These two former MotoGP champions have different fates, but we thought it would be interesting to look at their head-to-head battle on identical equipment.
Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden were teammates at Ducati during the 2011 and 2012 MotoGP championship series. We created the charts below to compare their results. A couple of things should be noted. First, some of the references to “DNF” actually relate to a non-start due to injury. Secondly, some will argue that the bike they shared was undergoing rapid development almost exclusively based upon the goals of Valentino Rossi and his crew chief, Jeremy Burgess, with Hayden essentially forced to accept their development changes for the bike (something that arguably happened to Nicky Hayden at Honda with Dani Pedrosa as his teammate).
You can look at the numbers yourself, but by our count, Rossi won the heads-up battle during races (17-9), while Hayden placed higher more often in qualifying (17-13).
As a footnote, so far this year Hayden has won the heads-up race battle with his new teammate Andrea Dovizioso only two times (vs 6 for Dovi).
| 2011 |
V.Rossi Race/Qualifying |
N.Hayden Race/Qualifying |
| Qatar |
7/9 |
9/13 |
| Spain |
5/12 |
3/11 |
| Portugal |
5/9 |
9/13 |
| France |
3/9 |
7/10 |
| Catalunya |
5/7 |
8/8 |
| British |
6/13 |
4/7 |
| Assen |
4/11 |
5/9 |
| Italy |
6/12 |
10/9 |
| Germany |
9/16 |
8/8 |
| Laguna Seca |
6/7 |
7/9 |
| Brno |
6/6 |
7/9 |
| Indy |
10/14 |
14/8 |
| Missano (SanMarino) |
7/11 |
DNF/15 |
| Aragon |
10/17 |
7/7 |
| Japan |
DNF/7 |
7/10 |
| Australia |
DNF/11 |
7/5 |
| Valencia |
DNF/6 |
DNF/7 |
| 2012 |
V.Rossi Race/Qualifying |
N.Hayden Race/Qualifying |
| Qatar |
10/12 |
6/5 |
| Spain |
9/13 |
8/3 |
| Portugal |
7/9 |
11/10 |
| France |
2/7 |
6/11 |
| Catalunya |
7/9 |
9/7 |
| British |
9/10 |
7/7 |
| Assen |
13/10 |
6/9 |
| Germany |
6/9 |
10/7 |
| Italy |
5/10 |
7/4 |
| Laguna Seca |
DNF/10 |
6/8 |
| Indy |
7/10 |
DNF |
| Brno |
7/6 |
DNF |
| Missano (SanMarino) |
2/6 |
7/10 |
| Aragon |
8/8 |
DNF/9 |
| Japan |
7/9 |
8/10 |
| Malasia |
5/11 |
4/9 |
| Australia |
7/8 |
8/10 |
| Valencia |
10/11 |
DNF/7 |
Well, numbers or not… We now have Dovi on the DUCK… and where do they finish? Right ahead or behind each other.
Doesn’t help to take your team mate out for 8th place so really… if you are 7/8 or 8/7 or whatever… Everyone can ride this POS up to a pace and that’s it. Stoner rode it over the limit and pulled it off for wins and top 5’s or crashed 50% of the time… They can spend $$ on whoever they want, but until they fix the bike… they got NUTHIN!
I wish them well!!!
stoner was awesome to watch and he won on a duc… before spec tire rules.
he was having a special tire made just for him, which will never happen for ducati again under this tire agreemant and arrangement. Ducati will have to make a bike exactly like a honda or yamaha to perform on these very specifically designed tires.
Well now.. Hayden couldn’t win on a Duc.. Rossi couldn’t win on a Duc… what makes Crutchlow think he can win on a Duc. Hmmm… He’s young, fearless and agressive.. he may just pull it off.
I wish him well. I’m sure his bank balance will show the gratitude he has for the fine folks from Maranello for bringing him on board. It would be nice to see a Duc rider on the podium every now and then.
re: “what makes Crutchlow think he can win on a Duc.”
nothing, he doesn’t think he can win on the duc. he was simply watching Heat and pacino reminded him “he could get killed walking his doggie”.
Ducati wasted the opportunity with Rossi.
Jeremy Burgess told Ducati what was wrong with the Ducati after the first test Rossi had on the bike. Burgess said as much in the first interview after the first test back in December 2010.
Ducati refused to redesign the engine per Jeremy’s recommendations.
It makes no sense to hire the most successful MotoGP Engineer and the most successful current rider and then ignore their advice…
I am already feeling sorry for Crutchlow. Yamaha showed him no respect though so he owes them none in return.
re: “It makes no sense to hire the most successful MotoGP Engineer and the most successful current rider and then ignore their advice”
that wasn’t their doing, that was investindustrial’s business plan to “hyper-valuate” the company for sale. they cashed out to the tune of 1.1 Billion (with a “B”). these wizards of finance now sit on a beach and collect 20%.
Nice “Die Hard” reference, if that is indeed what you intended. 🙂
Did he really? What an idiot!
Its true just dug up a release about it..2 year deal. What a poor career move. Of course if he did win on the thing he’d be the next coming of …well Stoner I suppose
If this is true then Yamaha won’t have to worry about Crutchlow being a threat to Lorenzo next year.
Do none of you guys know how to use the “Reply” button? Not to single you out but I’ve been confused by this about 3 times just today.
This problem could be fixed if Motorcycle Daily adopted a logical comments layout with the oldest comment on top. Right now I have to start at the bottom and read up, until someone has replied to someone else’s comment then I must read the string down. Then start reading up again after I skip the reply string I just read. It is crazy. Motorcycle Daily, PLEASE, at least give us the option to sort comments oldest to newest!
now Cal can join Ben Spies in the Ducati MotoGP coffee shop chatting about the last times they were on the podium, “..you remember, when I rode for Yamaha….”
In MotoGP, it’s all about having a factory ride.
Crutchlow signed today for Nicky’s empty seat. “Show me the money”.
I think all the talk about ducati frames, engines, attitude and rider leave out one enormous factor… besides stoner (who was having a special front tire made for him/his riding style/his bike) the major change for Ducati were the new spec tire rules, requiring ducati to be good on the tires that bridgestone make for honda and yamaha.
Bridgestone could easily develop a tire to help the ducati feel the way the riders want, but aren’t allowed to under current rules, and if they did and the yamaha and honda garages were forced to run them this would be a very interesting series indeed. Making everyone want the same performance from the same tire requires everyone to build the same bike, an option Ducati is obviously not in love with
Honda and Yamaha would adapt practically overnight. Ducati has had a hard time trying to win but calling it a “turd” is overly harsh. Honda and Yamaha clearly have a bigger/better commitment. Ducati is not so far away as the peanut gallery would have you believe.
This comparison shows what was apparent through Rossi’s time in red and is still apparent today: Hayden is a fantastic rider who has chosen to squander his last years on an uncompetitive bike. The paycheck is ample I’m sure, but still, a sad way to go out from a fans perspective. 2011-2012 also reiterated the GP## is an absolute turd, despite Rossi & Burgess’ best efforts to squeeze anything more out of it. A truly flawed creation.
Conclusion: The Only person in this world that can ride & win on a Ducati is STONER!
re: “Rossi vs. Hayden at Ducati: What the Numbers Tell Us…”
…bin the ally twin spar, and make with the full TRELLIS.
hey that rhymes, see what I did there.
FUNNY Norm! Rossi did not have a very fun time at Ducati, I think because he was always riding an experiment. I don’t think they forced Rossi’s changes on Hayden. Hayden was accustomed to the bike he was used to riding and it got him his usual 7 th to 9 th place finishes when he wasn’t being taken out by someone. He may have ridden a bike with the changes Rossi made, but doubt he raced one much.
Now Dovi isn’t having fun, and soon Crutchlow may not be having any fun either if he does something stupid and signs with Ducati for the money.
What would be much more interesting would be to look at Hayden’s performances in 2010 and then look at 2011 & 2012. And more important still, look at their race times and how far back they were from the winner. In 2010, Nicky podiumed at Aragon by out-smarting Jorge Lorenzo on the final lap. Stoner was gone out front with Dani second (Honda). The next year, with Valentino’s development, Hayden was 25 seconds slower over the race distance at Aragon (or 1.2 seconds per lap!) And Stoner? He won, this time on a Honda 800, but with a race time that was a tad SLOWER than he’d achieved on the carbon-fibre Ducati the year before. You know, the “unrideable” Ducati…
Conclusion: the Duck is an great equalizer.
Dorna should buy the design of GP11/12 from Ducati, kick all MFGs(including Duc) out and make every rider compete on GP12s.
And provide no design improvements ever.
That’ll make a closer racing series.
That will just get a bunch of people hurt 😀
For less money they could just put ’em all on R6’s if all you’re after is closer racing.