Ducati: Using safety as an excuse to ban winglets "dangerous"

It was announced in June that the aerodynamic devices, which Ducati pioneered last year, will not be permitted in 2017, following similar bans in Moto3 and Moto2 this season.

While other teams had expressed safety fears as well as aesthetic concerns associated with winglet development, Ducati made clear its frustration with the decision, believing the ban to be targeted at reducing its competitiveness.

Speaking in a press conference at Brno, Dall’Igna rubbished suggestions that winglets were a safety risk, declaring it "dangerous for motorsport" that the cause of improving safety had been hijacked.

“We used the wings for the first time at the beginning of 2015, so it’s been a year-and-a-half since we started using them,” said Dall’Igna.

“We have had a lot of crashes in this time, and there is no evidence wings are dangerous for riders.

“To use this as an excuse to ban the wings is dangerous for motorsport, because safety is one of the most important things, and we shouldn’t use it to reduce the performance of a competitor.”

The Italian added that the cost-saving argument for banning winglets was nonsensical, as teams will now have to totally rethink their aerodynamic concepts for 2017.

“For sure next year we will have different aerodynamics, which we have to develop, so for sure the costs will increase,” he said.

Bike industry to suffer

Dall'Igna also said he believes MotoGP’s decision to ban winglets will harm the road bike industry, as it loses out on the chance to develop better aerodynamic knowledge.

“The motorcycle industry has to work with aerodynamics more than in the past, and the motorcycle industry doesn’t have the knowledge of working with aerodynamics at a high level,” said Dall’Igna.

“So, banning winglets is a problem for the motorcycle industry, because we don’t develop in the future the aerodynamics. The knowledge of aerodynamics in the end will not be enough, not like I think is necessary.”