Suzuki’s Alex Rins has criticized himself for making “stupid mistakes” thus far in the 2021 MotoGP season, after crashing four times in the last three races while in strong position.
Rins crashed out of the race for the win in Portugal last month while running second, and he finished sixth in the Spanish Grand Prix the following weekend.
Rins recovered from 15th on the grid to run in the podium positions by the end of lap five in Sunday’s rainy Le Mans race, exiting pitlane behind race leader Marc Marquez.
But he crashed at the Dunlop chicane right away, throwing away another podium chance, before falling again later in the race.
Rins is speechless about his present form, not least because he claims that the changes made to the GSX-RR in 2021 allow him to “do whatever I want” with it.
“It’s true that I’m crashing a lot this season,” Rins said on Sunday at Le Mans, having dropped 57 points adrift in the championship standings.
“I’m taking all the crashes that the last two years we don’t make.
“I don’t know how to answer because I’m feeling good. I’m working hard at home with all my staff. This sometimes happens, I don’t know.
“We improved the bike a lot. I need to say sorry to the team because this year is the year that I’m feeling stronger on the bike, I do whatever I want – except in qualifying.
“But I do whatever I want here in Le Mans. We struggled a lot and in the dry conditions we were so fast from the beginning.
“We were out of Q2 for nothing, we finished 11th by just putting one tyre in the beginning.
“We did a big improvement on the bike, just we are doing stupid mistakes.
“Today we did the impossible. We passed the first lap fourth, or fifth, I recovered 10 positions on the first lap.
“I entered the box and changed the bike so fast I recovered one position, then a stupid crash again.”
Rins acknowledges it’s difficult to stay focused in his current slump, but he’s eager to “reset” for the Italian Grand Prix.
“It’s a bit tough in these moments to see the guys in the team not high,” he added.
“We are passing through a difficult moment with these three crashes in the last three races.
“It’s not easy. For me it’s hard too.
“But I will do a reset again and I will arrive with the same strength at Mugello.
“I will try to fight at Mugello. I mean, this is all we can do now.”
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