Mindgames are part of MotoGP and it isn’t anything new. For Casey Stoner, who was a rather mostly known for what he did on track and not out of it, these are a way to disguise some ‘weaknesses’ for those who do it.
The two time world champion, with Ducati and Honda, spoke to TNT Sports about the subject looking at the current grid, saying the big rivalries are still there, but somewhat not as seen as they were in his time as a rider: ‘It’s there. It’s just under a veil. You’ve got to look for it. It’s there! I understand everyone at home wants to see the nitty gritty. Some competitors like that, they think it’s how you get into people’s mind-sets’.
About the mind games, the australian believes that these can go wrong if not done right: ‘But in my opinion, all you do by trying to get into someone’s head and doing it in the wrong way? You just make them stronger’.
If these tricks were made on him, he recalled with a piece of advice: ‘Everyone that has ever done it to me? You learn from everything they do. The reason they do everything. It uncovers a lot of their weaknesses. You can tell when they’re trying to compensate for certain things when they’re trying to intimidate you’.