Scott Redding (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) is the youngest ever Grand Prix winner. That’s a record unlikely to be taken away, with the normal minimum age for competitors in the lightweight class having since changed from 15 to 16. So when Redding won that race, the 2008 British 125GP at Donington Park, it was history likely made for the long haul.
Since, life has been ups and downs, wins and losses and, at times, tantalisingly close to World Champion status for the number 45. At the first race of the season, the Brit with the unique record sat down with On Track Off Road magazine to talk past, present and progress.
“I was the next big thing in this paddock...until I wasn't,” Redding reflects. “Looking back to when I won at Donington Park and seeing what's happened in my career since, I thought it would be a lot better. I thought I'd have one or two titles by now. That was my mindset as a 15-year-old because all I’d done was win.”
Someone else on the podium that day at Donington had a similar mindset, and that was now six-time World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Redding dissects the diverging paths the two have since walked.
“Talent will only take you so far in racing. Marquez was brought up by Emilo Alzamora who was a world champion that knew all about the road you had to take. My dad and my uncle brought me up in racing but they knew nothing about top level racing. I was taught to ride f*cking hard and to train f*cking harder. Coming through the ranks I was thought to be a fighter and to be aggressive. I wasn't taught about muscle development and weight or the mental lessons you need. I learned them the hard way.
“I missed out on guidance. If you put me and Marquez next to each other, at that point I was beating him. After 2008 he had the right help and he progressed mentally whereas I stayed the same. It all started to be a struggle from that next year because I got taller, I got heavier and suddenly it was one thing after another that snowballed.
“I needed someone to control me and put me in the right position to do the right things. When I signed for Marc VDS I was alone and my dad said, 'Go do what you've got to do because I've taken you as far as I can.' I learned so much at that point but still had so much more to learn. Every day I'm learning stuff that I should have learned years ago.”
Learning is a common theme. Now older, wiser and himself playing more of a mentor on occasion, Redding now knows where the big lessons lie.
“From all my experience I've told kids that I'm working with that it's not about winning, it's about winning at the right time. As you come up through the ranks you need to be beaten by better riders. They push you to improve. You need to move at the right time from one place to the next and not think about winning the championships along the way. You only want to win a world championship and everything else is about getting here. It's about the big picture and in that you learn more from being beaten than by winning easily.”
In 2013, that defeat was at the hands of Pol Espargaro in the Moto2™ World Championship, as Redding fell and broke his wrist towards the end of the season, forced to sit on the sidelines.
“It was tough not to win the championship in 2013 but it was luck that ran against me. Some things in life happen and that was one of them for me. That year I was winning races and in the click of your fingers it was all done. In my career I had I won in England, went to Spain and struggled at first but once I was on the right bike I was dominating. I won the last race at Valencia by ten seconds. I came to MotoGP and was on the front row at the first 125GP in Qatar. In Moto2 when I had the right bike I was winning. That was me and that was my level.”
But Redding isn’t looking back to reminisce, he’s looking back to help him move forward. So as a new season gets in gear and the Brit begins a new chapter at Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, it’s not rose-tinted memories on the agenda – it’s another push forward in the big leagues.
“It's strange how it all happened but I feel that I'm in a much better place now compared to the last three years. I feel so much more confidence in myself now compared to the past. I'm becoming more and more the rider that I want to be and coming to Aprilia has helped that.
“I know that I needed to find my confidence again and knowing that has allowed me to understand all the things that I needed to do but it also gave me more motivation for training and the background parts of the job. If you get a pay-off from training you feel better and it motivates you. If you don't get the breakthrough that comes from seeing light at the end of that tunnel, it's impossible to make progress.
“I forget how young I am. I forget that I'm 25 because I feel like I'm 35. There's guys in Moto2 that are 26 or 27 and I see guys that are 23 and I think that they're young...but I'm only two years older than them. I've been here a long time and I've not met my expectations. I know that there's more in myself and that I've not shown what I can do. Every year I work harder and work in different areas to try and improve.”