MotoGP: EXCLUSIVE – Scott Redding Interview

A new dawn beckons for Scott Redding in 2019. An eleven-year stint in the grand prix paddock came to an end last November at a murky Valencia. But rather than longing for the past, the Englishman was upbeat, and already looking ahead to the challenges ahead.

Before his final MotoGP bow, and the first test aboard Ducati’s new Panigale V4 Superbike, on which Redding will compete in the British Superbike Championship, Crash.net sat down with the four-time grand prix winner to discuss a tumultuous year in Aprilia colours.

The 26-year old was willing to open up further, providing insights on his interests away from the track, motivations for the switch to BSB, what prevented him from keeping up with childhood rival Marc Marquez and his happiest memories from a GP stint that resulted in four victories and 14 further podiums.

Crash.net:
The videoblogs you did during the end of the year were well received. Has this led you to think about a life behind the camera once you hang up your leathers?

Scott Redding:
I would like to. I think I’d be good at stuff like that. I haven’t put too much thought into it. That’s why I started doing the vlogs. I didn’t want to do them at first. But it was more because of what I was doing, where I was going. That was interesting. But now, why would people want to see me sitting and talking? It had a good turnaround and people really liked it. They say I’m good at talking but I don’t see it, because it’s me. I think, ‘Shut up, you’re talking shit.’ I need to stay in racing for as long as I can. I don’t think I’d be as interested in doing what Neil [Hodgson] and James [Toseland – pundits for BT Sport] is doing. I don’t think I’m into that. Someone commented and said, ‘Why don’t you go on ‘I’m a Celebrity’?’ I would do it. I’m scared of everything but I’d like to give something like that a shot. But it’s a completely different world, that. The first thing I’d like to do is boxing. I’d like to do some matches next year. I’m training a lot. I’ll have the time next year between races and I’d like to do some stuff.

Crash.net:
When you practice boxing away from the track, do you train with other professionals?

Scott Redding:
It’s been hard to find a gym and I’ve been moving countries. I’ve found a guy in Rimini, because I’m staying in Riccione at the moment. He’s really good. He does bare-knuckle boxing in England quite a lot. He’s quite a good trainer, and I like the way he works. In a gym, they look at you like… [scrunches up face]. But he’s quiet and he works well. We did a couple of trainings and did a light sparring session yesterday [interview took place on the Thursday, before Valencia GP, 2018]. I enjoy it. It’s all I think about. I went to the gym yesterday. Most people are at the track twiddling their thumbs. But I went there, wanting to work a little bit on my footwork. I was there two and a half hours. I get into it and just want to learn. I don’t care about punching; I just want to understand the footwork. I don’t have perfect technique but I’ve got power. If you watch some boxers and how they move on their feet, it’s beautiful to watch. [Floyd] Mayweahter, [Vasyl] Lomachenko [lightweight world champion]… I was watching Lomachenko the other day and I thought, ‘The way you move, there’s a finesse.’ It’s like an art. It’s like riding a bike, but only for you.

Crash.net:
If you look at 2018 as a whole you would probably say it was disappointing. Has boxing been something of a welcome distraction? Is that how you detach from the stresses of racing?

Scott Redding:
The boxing has been a bit on and off for many years. I did a bit of MMA last year, but it took too much time because you had to do a lot of different sports. I was doing triathlons before to try and side-step the mind. When it’s difficult, you need something to occupy your mind to keep you motivated, to show that in here you’ve still got it, you’re still ready. That’s the difference. That’s why I said when I was speaking about racing for next year, I don’t care about being here. I really don’t care at all. People think I’m crazy for it. People love to be here. I don’t care. I come because I want to be successful. That’s the difference between me making it with no money and riders making it with money. They want to be successful, but if it comes down to a full-out dogfight and you have to fucking ride through a wall, there’s not going to be many that’s going to ride through that wall. One of those is Marquez. He would ride through the wall to win. Valentino, I don’t imagine he would. But that’s the key difference; he’s a lot wiser, he’s older. But there’s a difference in the scale between it.

Crash.net:
It seems like you are ready for a change. Do you have that feeling?

Scott Redding:
I need a change. As I was saying, that’s why I wanted to go - no, I didn’t want to go to BSB. That would be wrong. I chose in the end to go to BSB because it was the only option that could really be successful for me. I just said to Michael [Bartholemy – Redding’s manager], ‘Get me a bike that can win the championship. Get me a bike that can win.” I don’t care where, what. I don’t even give a fuck if it has one wheel. If it can win, get me that bike and I will do what I can do. If I win, there we go. If I don’t win, have a second year because I have a big lot to learn. If I don’t win again, OK, listen, you tried. You ain’t what you used to be. Done.

But until then, being here, riding round, like in Malaysia I was just wasting my time. I’m wasting my time and risking my life. That’s not a good combination. It’s demoralising. You’re getting beat by people that with the right machine you could generally beat them with one hand. I don’t mean it in a disrespectful way, but they’re beating me by big amounts of seconds, minutes. What the fuck? And that’s why I’ve lost a lot of this passion. I’m hungry to win, but that hunger is gone because unless I get the chance… Like I said on social media, if a rider from a factory team gets injured and they need a replacement rider, I’m in. I’m fully in. Put me on that thing. If I’m one year out and it’s Australia this year and I’ve been one year out, put me on that fucking bike. I will show you. I can adapt fast.

But you can’t adapt fast to something that doesn’t work. I was looking back through some photos on the internet this year, then I went through to last year, through the year before. I went all the way through thinking the Ducati days was not bad. If I was offered to go back, I would go back because it was not that bad. But you always think it could be better. Of course, it’s what we come here for. The days on the Honda with VDS. If you look to my results, they were not that bad, considering how shit the bike was at the time. You see the other guys gone there with the bike that’s improved. They’re not really that much better, but at the time everyone was thinking, it needs more. Everyone expects more.

But then you see, they never really progressed. They got a better bike. So then I kind of lost the way. So it’s just a big clusterfuck. It’s just been a big wrong time, wrong place since I left VDS. I should have stayed another year [in Moto2] and fought for the title the year after, and then things would have been insane. It would have changed. I would have probably ended up on maybe the Tech3 Yamaha, being competitive. Folger and Zarco, when we’re in our prime, they’re not better riders than me, at all. I’ve raced with them most of my life. They’re not better riders than me. But put them on the right bike, boom.

So my career would have been completely different, but I was a little bit naive and a bit frustrated about the weight thing thinking MotoGP, it won’t be a big difference. Well, fuck me! No different. That’s the reason I wanted to move so fast because I could win that championship. I’m in an uphill battle all the time. It’s the same now in MotoGP. It’s still the same problem.

But I thought that wouldn't be, and then I got there and the whole thing started to go wrong. So I need to get out. Go and do something else and come back. I’m not pushing to come back here. I would like to go to World Superbike with competitive machinery to try and win the title there. That’s my goal now as I sit here today. If I get a chance to come back in MotoGP on a good bike, yeah, call me up. I’ll be there. No problem. I’m ready every day. I would like to. I would like to actually do that one time. No pressure. Turn up, ride a bike that’s well-developed. Even if it’s a Honda again. I’ll give it a shot. If it’s a Yamaha, if it’s an Aprilia, whatever. There’s no stress behind. Just to see.

Crash.net:
Recently you compared your career with Marc Marquez, as you came through the smaller classes at the same time. The fact Marc has worked with the same faces for so many years, is that something you lacked?

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Crash.net:
Recently you compared your career with Marc Marquez, as you came through the smaller classes at the same time. The fact Marc has worked with the same faces for so many years, is that something you lacked?

Scott Redding:
That and money has made the biggest difference between me and Marquez as we stand on this day. I think he knows that. I think a lot of people know that. A lot of people know we had the same talent. The background I think was quite similar. He didn’t come from much. That’s why I have a lot of respect for him. But he got picked up by being in Spain. I was in Spain, but I just didn’t get on the right foot. I was with the academy but I didn’t fit in with that. The way my family are, the way I am, we don’t fit in with a lot of rules, and that’s what you can follow. I struggled. I went out and I was competitive again.

But then there’s no money. In Spain in that year, the bike was good. You go to world championship and the bike and team go from being here to here. So you’re in an uphill battle again. Marc comes in with his own team from Repsol, so Factory KTM. The year after Factory Red Bull KTM. He’s had Red Bull and Repsol behind him all his life. Has his own Moto2 team. You can’t compete with that. I’m going from left to right. Marc VDS was the time that I would say we were on level, me and Marc. He had a bit more experience in the younger years. He had [Emilio] Alzamora by his side. I was 15. I didn’t even live at home.

Can you imagine what a 15-year-old does on his own? I was doing all sorts of shit, just living my life. Yeah, it’s racing. I was training. I was working hard. But I didn’t have someone to go, ‘Sit down, stop, think. We need to do this, this, and this.’ I was just free-styling all my life. Then in Moto2 with VDS I learned so much every day so much. I worked so hard. That’s a massive thing. That’s the biggest thing while bringing a rider up is the things around. You can go so far with talent. I’ve always said that, but money and guidance can take you a bit further. I was so lucky to have VDS.

My offer was, Marc VDS the team that don’t know the big story about Kawasaki and all this, so not really appealing, or go to MZ [in Moto2] with the bike that has a team. [It was] A piece of shit, but you have a bike and have a team. That was my option. That was my career. For once, I went on the right way. Imagine I went to MZ. My career was done. I had no money. We ended 2009. Then you got Marc that’s just always had it in front of him. If you want to make someone the best of the best, just like that.

Look at Valentino. Same story. He always was on the right time at the right place. He went to Ducati, it went hard and he wanted to quit. He went back to Yamaha, a bit easier, he can make results, he stays. It will be interesting to see if roles change. If someone could tell you, I left Valentino in his position. Let’s put Scott in Dani’s [Pedrosa] position and let’s see. I think the outcome would be quite similar. If I was in Rossi’s shoes or Rossi was in my shoes. In the end it’s just a person.

A lot of it is the bike here. Where Dovi sat in and he gritted away, I have big respect for that. He was close to giving up his career. I read an article and he said he wanted to stop. He just stayed in, and then it started to work. To stay there and just keep digging away, that’s impressive. It’s easy to go and stay on the easy thing. It’s easy. Like Lorenzo changing around. Fair play to him. He took a lot of shit and in the end he can turn around and go, “Fuck you,” because he did it. He’ll do the same in Honda. He won’t beat Marc straight away but he’ll get there. If it comes down to a dog fight, it will end in tears because they’re both very similar guys. They’ll both ride through the wall. It’s about who would take who out first to get to the wall. It’s that mentality that they have.

Crash.net:
Can I ask about when you were 15? What was life like at that time?

Scott Redding:
I was living with my sister at the time. I moved there because she couldn’t afford to live in her place, and I was getting paid 500 pounds a month from my manager. I was giving 500 pounds to my sister. I got the money on the first and the second she had to pay for the house. Which was okay because I couldn’t drive. By twelve I was already in the academy - twelve, thirteen. We used to stay out in Spain with the six riders, no family. So that kind of helped because we was there. When I was fifteen I was more on my own. Everyone was at school. I was at home training. But then fifteen, sixteen your mates start smoking. They start drinking. I can’t do it. That was where you have to act an adult. I can’t do it.

I learned a lot. I don’t feel bad for it. I learned to cook, wash. Stuff that guys at 25 can’t do now. I had to grow up. I had to adapt to the situation. I didn’t have a mum there. My nan passed away soon after, so I had to learn. That was how it was for me. It made me the person I am today and I kind of liked it, if I’m honest. I’m on my own now and I never think, ‘I want to go home.’ People say, ‘Will you live in England?’ No, am I fuck. I don’t want to go home. I like to live my own life and do how I want. I want to start my own family and build it how I want. My upbringing wasn’t bad, but it could’ve been a lot better.

I have my own chance when I start my own family. There are also things in this racing world that you can’t be naïve about. I’m here to make money to support my family. People don’t think about that. They see you as a rider, but they don’t think you have to pay this to support that. They just assume you have everything, that you have a card which gives you everything you want.

Crash.net:
You said recently you got beyond getting angry about things in 2018. When did that happen?

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Crash.net:
You said recently you got beyond getting angry about things in 2018. When did that happen?

Scott Redding:
I think it was Austria. In Austria I lost my cool. I still apologise to this day for it. It was not acceptable. It was one of those things, like a water balloon. You fill it, and fill it, and at one point it’s going to go. When it’s gone, it’s gone. That’s what happened, it just went. I’ve been working a lot mentally to control that. It’s not been easy after that. Now I’ve gone past it. I don’t get angry; I just start crying. I’ve got no anger left. I find it a lot easier to control now. It’s just hard. In Malaysia for example, I had to use a different engine that I was struggling with. I was already on the edge, struggling. And it doesn’t help me. Then I’m trying to dig in and give everything I have.

I’ve been home, meditated every morning, gone training and been Scott Redding. Now I have an engine that can work I can enjoy it again. That’s what I need. Instead of being hit down, I need something that when I get a result, will give me a boost. Phillip Island was a completely shit weekend but the race was good, everyone was happy. That was like survival, like getting food in the jungle. It was the same in Thailand – a hard weekend, but a good race and everyone was happy. But when it’s hard like Sepang and you just struggle, where do I turn? What do I do? Who do I talk to? There’s no fucker there. That’s why it was hard. And it’s been hard for so long. It’s those things that make people change and adapt.

I look at Dovi, [he was] digging and digging and digging. He almost wanted to give up but he didn’t. Then he went [from strength to strength]. I wanted to give up racing two three times in the last three years because of that. I thought, ‘Just fuck it. Go and live a normal life.’ Then I think about it and I wonder, ‘Can you live a normal life? No. Do you want to give this up because it’s hard? No. I’m giving up because I can’t be successful, not because it’s hard.’ I want to win or be fighting at the front. I watch videos from before. I saw one circulating the other day of a 125cc race in Mugello. I don’t even remember that race, and I thought I finished eighth or ninth. Then I was battling for the lead, and I thought that’s why I do this. I love that. I love it.

Crash.net:
Is that why the Aprilia experience was so difficult? Because there wasn’t a person you could turn to?

Scott Redding:
It’s been difficult because I mentally prepared myself not to expect this. There wasn’t one percent in my mind that thought it would be like this. I was not prepared at all. I came like ‘Boom!’ I went into the winter thinking we could fight for top twelve’s, top eights, maybe develop and then fight. I believed it. I lost five or six kilos. I didn’t drink for three months, not a drop. And I was going out with people and going, ‘No! [I won’t drink.] End of.’ I was eating clean, training every day, sleeping, everything for that. And it was just like, Boom, in the face. Then I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t expect that. It didn’t get better. Then I lost my ride because they wanted me to develop, to make the bike better, and perform. That’s why I got a bit lost, until I could say, ‘Reload, it is what it is.’ I will go into this winter with the same mindset – not about the weight loss, as I need to be a bit stronger this year. But I’ll have that mindset again to be successful. I’ll work hard. If I get the machine to do it, and the results are coming in the first part it will fuel my fire more. I had no preparation for what happened this year. Zero.

That’s why I lost it so much in Austria. I was gobsmacked. I didn’t expect it. Then Aleix [Espargaro - '18 Aprilia team-mate] is using the other bike now, and he goes forward again. It’s a hard sport when it’s not going right. I don’t have just one mishap. I seem to trip on three or four things. Then I’ll have one or two good races but then a few bad ones. It’s like a rollercoaster with all the other shit going on around you. But it’s part of the sport. It’s hard. When it goes good I will appreciate it a lot more now. I’ve accepted it’s hard, and I’ve seen things and thought, ‘Woah, that’s not how you do it.’ That’s why I wanted that change and to show and prove myself that I can still do it. If I can’t at least I had the chance to do it. When the bike can’t do it, I blame myself. But we’ll see next year [2019].

Crash.net:
How do you think you will be remembered coming away from the grand prix paddock?

Scott Redding:
I think they’ll remember me for different reasons. I’m happy for that. Maybe they’ll remember the youngest ever rider [to win a GP before Can Öncü took on that mantle later in the weekend], or, ‘ Yeah, he was good in Moto2.’ But they won’t remember me for anything else except, ‘Scott Redding, he was that crazy guy! That was a guy that put his helmet down [on the ground]. That was the guy that did that cool shit with Marc. That was the guy that was always having fun. I know they’ll remember me for that. I’ll go to the after party on Sunday night. I spoke to someone, who said to me, ‘You can’t wear that.’ I said, ‘That’s exactly why I want to wear it.’ How many riders wear a pair of these [points to shorts]? People see that and say, ‘That kid’s got a sense of humour.’ People aren’t worried about coming and asking me for a photo. They feel like their friendly with me, like they can connect with me. They’ll remember that more. That and my battles in Moto2, that’s how I hope they remember me. I would have like to have gone away with a victory. I’ve said all year, if I can get a podium I’ll strip naked. Then I’ll have to get the fans to help me pay the fine!

Crash.net:
Is there one memory from this paddock that you cherish more than others?

Scott Redding:
I’ve got a lot of memories away from the race track… Fucking hell! Memories, memorabilia… But from racing? Obviously winning is one. The battle with Marc in Silverstone was pretty insane. Even when I watch it back now I think, ‘You had fucking balls that day.’ Then when I won at Silverstone with the most pressure a British rider could have on his shoulders, I did it. When I got that feeling from the crowd, it was sensational. You just feel invincible.

There have been a lot of memories, a lot of good races, but I don’t think about it. [long pause] There were a lot of great battles, battles with Pol [Espargaro]. For me, the battles are more memorable than the winning. The winning is just the final part of the puzzle.

Finishing second in the Moto2 world championship, I don’t care. Honestly I don’t even know where the thing is that they gave me [end of year runner up trophy]. I don’t care. Travelling around the world, doing this, can be boring. But you can also have some good, crazy-ass memories. A lot of them came this year. Insane. That’s nice.

Things that I like to remember are like for example Phillip Island 2010. You can go and watch the race back. I fucked up the qualifying like I always did, I think. We had a team meeting and I said to the guys, ‘Tomorrow in the race, first lap, I’ll go around the outside of two riders at turn three.’ Go and watch the race. The first lap, around the outside of two riders. Things like that.

Just being so confident in yourself makes a massive difference. Estoril, a track I hate, in 2010 I crashed, qualified like last. That was an up and down season, 2010. But I said, ‘Boys, don’t worry. I’ll be there.’ It was a drying race and I missed the podium by this [holds up fingers to indicate small amount]. I came through like a train. The feeling I had because I told them it would happen was nice.

The only thing I wish I did was get that Moto2 title. I would do anything to get that, anything to get that back. And it was more just to go ‘We did it.’ Everything I did, 125s, Moto2 was to get a world title. We came so close. I even saw the helmet designs for it [in case he won the title]. They were even starting to engrave my name on the trophy, I’m sure ...

Click here to read Scott Redding detailing one regret from his time in grand prix.