Lorenzo was born to not only win, but to be world champion. His father, Jose Manuel "Chicho" Lorenzo, built Lorenzo's first motorcycle. In addition to training him to win races, he taught him how to behave on the podium. He became the youngest rider to ever take part in a world championship race when he turned 15 on the second day of the 2002 Spanish GP at Jerez. His nickname is "Por Fuera," ["on the outside"], a title he earned when he rode around the outside of Dani Pedrosa to win his first GP aboard a 125cc Derbi in Rio in 2003.
More success followed in 2004, and in 2005 he graduated to the 250cc class on a Fortuna Honda. That was the year his relationship with his father deteriorated, with Lorenzo taking former racer Dani Amatriain as his manager. The next year he switched to the Aprilia team and won the 250cc World Championship, a title he defended in 2007.
In his first MotoGP race last year, he took the pole position and finished second in Qatar. He followed it up with poles in the next two races, and added his breakthrough win at Estoril, only his third race. But crashes in Catalunya, China, and Laguna Seca kept him from winning for the rest of the year.
"Well, last year, it makes me laugh sometimes when the people say, 'why you crash so many things?'" he asks. "I crash so many things because I finish second in my first race. I finish third in my second race. And I won my third race. It's normal that sometimes you crash if you want to be in front. People want that I win races and also don't crash. It's impossible when you don't have the best bike and the best tires, but you want to continue being competitive, you crash. And this maybe is something I have to learn, no? I learn from the last year that when the bike and the tire is not competitive, you have to [slow down].
"I'm not Superman. If I can be competitive and I can win races, I will try. And at this time, I could do it. For this I have done. I don't think about so many things if I am too young or I am competing with Valentino. I don't think about these things. If I'm competitive, I try to win. If I am not, I finish fourth or fifth. Last year I wanted to be on the podium in every race; for this I crash. But this year the mentality I changed." Also changed is his management. Lorenzo split with Amatriain last year (Amatriain was recently arrested and accused of threatening his former riders with extortion) and replaced him with Marcos Hirsch, a bear of a Brazilian who is his long-time trainer/mentor.
Maybe the biggest change for Lorenzo was tires. He was on Michelins last year while Fiat Yamaha teammate Rossi was on Bridgestones. "Maybe in some races Michelin has a little advantage, but instead in other tracks they have the opposite, they have quite big disadvantage," said Lorenzo. "So Bridgestone permits you to fight at the same level as the other riders, so this give me the extra motivation.
"The Bridgestone tires are very different from the Michelin tire. They have a great front tire that permits you to brake so late and so strong, but instead the rear tire is different from the Michelin. It's not better and it's not worse. So to take the maximum profit of this tire I needed some months, but at the end I get it."
Yamaha race boss Lin Jarvis believes the three reasons Lorenzo is better in 2009 are tires, mental approach, and management. He also believes the former 250cc world champion is the most inquisitive rider he's ever met.
"Yeah, the important thing is not to lose this curiosity of learning, because when you lost this curiosity you became old, sarcastic people," he said with an easy smile.