A day to remember for Aprilia!
It may have been a dominant win for the rider who is excelling in 2021, but behind him, the podium was filled with feel good stories of riders coming back from difficult periods of their careers!
It was the race that most of the pack feared, as Quartararo set a relentless pace up front, which no one could match, which allowed him to cruise to another win, and extend his title lead. This track is perfectly suited to his smooth riding style, with long sweeping corners, and no majorly long straights. He never allowed himself to get flustered at the start, as he was pushed back in the field, instead he was methodical, and it paid off for him. Aside from Quartararo’s garage, it is chaos in Yamaha, with riders retiring, quitting, or being injured. This mix up leaves us in the situation, where the winners’ teammates were holding up the last places in the finishing order. You cannot blame Crutchlow and Dixon much for this, as they are getting used to the bike still, especially Jake who performed very well in his first weekend on the bike. Rossi too was actually going very well in the race to begin with; however, he overused his tyres, and fell back as a result.
Suzuki will be satisfied with another podium, showing their upturn in pace since the summer break. They may have hoped it was Mir, for the sake of the championship, yet Rins needed this race, and will make him feel more secure in his seat going forwards. Mir could have been right with his teammate, but I think the choice to go on Soft’s was what cost him, as he dropped back in the latter stages of the race, which is normally where he comes on strong. Moving to 2nd in the championship is little consolation for him, as he drops further behind Fabio! Aragon and Misano will be prime opportunities for him to bounce back.
This has been a huge weekend for Aprilia, as they have achieved their first podium in the MotoGP era of the sport. The team has been knocking on the door all year with Aleix, but in this race he looked on another level compared to previously. The track layout really plays to their strengths, so don’t expect this to be a consistent feature of the rest of the year. With the announcement of Vinales joining the team, and possibly racing later this year with them, everything is on the up for the Italian marque.
It was always going to be a tough weekend for Ducati, on a track which rewards corner speed in Silverstone. Miller nearly beat Aleix to 3rd, which would have been a stellar result, but he couldn’t overhaul him on the last lap. If Bagnaia had chosen the medium rear tyre, and Martin had not been crashed into, it could have been even better. This weekend has really shown the importance of getting points on Fabio at Austria, which they weren’t really able to do. Zarco has fallen under the radar recently, with a spate of poor results. He was looking so consistent to start the year, and was threatening Quartararo, but something has happened after the summer break, to dampen his effort.
KTM were nowhere all weekend, possibly due to their tyre struggles once again. Olivera’s weekend especially was not what we had expected from him, considering he is a winner this year. Yet again though, Binder was able to pull another late race charge though the field, to finish in the top 6. He continues to do miracles on that bike. I hope that the new singings for next year at Tech 3 help to boost the team forwards, as they have stagnated at the moment.
5th might be disappointing for Pol, who started from pole. Early on in the race it was going well, but when the heat got turned up in the mid to late stages, he just couldn’t hold on. Despite this it has been a solid weekend for him, as finishing top Honda is something to be pleased about. Much like Binder, Alex Marquez was also coming through the field at a rate of knots. A corner has clearly been turned for him, following a horrific start to the year. Marquez did not cover himself in glory, as he made an aggressive move on Martin, possibly in retaliation for an early move. This took them both down, on a weekend which had plenty of potential for both riders.
Aragon is up next, a track which didn’t suit Yamaha last year at all, however I wouldn’t count out the new, stronger team they have this year just yet. Can Nakagami get over the heart ache he had here last year? Or can Suzuki win again, to take the fight to Yamaha?
-M
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