SCOTT REDDING SAYS HE DIDN’T ENJOY HIS MOTOGP CAREER BECAUSE HE FELT HIS RESULTS WEREN’T ENOUGH

Scott Redding has looked back on his MotoGP career with a complicated mix of pride and regret, explaining that despite podiums and racing alongside the sport’s biggest names, he never truly felt satisfied with his results at the time.

Redding’s path to MotoGP began with strong momentum in the smaller classes. He was beating Marc Marquez in the 125cc category, but Marquez moved up to MotoGP before him, arriving in 2013. After Redding finished second in Moto2 in 2013, he made the step to the premier class in 2014 with Gresini Honda. However, Redding says the circumstances of that transition left him feeling “wounded,” particularly because he believed he was riding inferior machinery compared to Marquez, who was given factory equipment. He also pointed to MotoGP’s rule changes for rookies that had been introduced the year before.

In his first MotoGP season, Redding’s best championship result came with 12th place in 2014. The following year he achieved his first MotoGP podium with Marc VDS, and he added a second podium in 2016 with Pramac Ducati. Even so, Redding described a mindset that made it difficult to enjoy the journey. Speaking on the Carole Nash Insidebikes YouTube channel, he said that if he had waited a year before moving to MotoGP, his career might have looked different: “Going to MotoGP, if I’d have waited a year, I’d have probably had a different career, but I didn’t.”

He also reflected on how he felt pressure to do more than what he was delivering. Redding said that while he can now see his achievements in a broader context, at the time he believed his performances were never enough. “At the time it was never enough. Finishing eighth in a MotoGP race, which is the pinnacle of racing, with the best riders in the world,” he explained. He added that because he was competing against riders such as Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso, Marc Marquez, and Jorge Lorenzo, he judged himself against the very top of the grid: “To finish eighth was not enough to me.”

Redding described the mentality he carried from his early racing days: “If I’m winning, I need to be getting beat, but when I’m getting beat, I need to then get better to win.” He said that approach created “a lot of pressure” and contributed to him not enjoying his MotoGP experience: “It was just a lot of pressure and I feel like I didn’t enjoy my journey of MotoGP career.”

Looking back now, he said he has started to feel pride when reviewing his “resume as a rider,” but he believes the satisfaction he lacked may have been tied to his drive. “I now am proud,” he said, while also suggesting that if he had enjoyed it more, he might not have pushed as hard: “If I did enjoy it, maybe I didn’t get the results that I would have got because I’d have been too comfortable.”