A masterclass by Bagnaia!
After the dominance at Silverstone, it was great to have a race long battle for the win go right down to the wire. In the end it was the rising star who outfoxed a great of the sport!
What a great weekend for Ducati, as they come to a track with only 1 long straight, and take home a pole and a win. Bagnaia has had this coming for a while now, as he has performed excellently all year, if anything outperforming his more experienced teammate! Marquez may have been slightly faster than him, but Bagnaia could place his bike where he needed it to be, to hold Marc off, and force him to make rash moves, which cost the Honda man the win. As a result, the championship has closed in slightly, although the gap is still over 50 points. However, if he can get on a roll, anything is possible! Miller and Martin were thereabouts in the top 10, not able to use the tyres as well as Bagnaia. Bastiannini is also doing incredible things on an old bike, as he ended up 6th, I hope he gets a better bike for next year!
It was a classic Marquez race for the Honda man, as he stalked the Ducati for the majority of the race, before pilling the pressure on in the final few laps, including making some daring moves! Unlike the old Marquez though, he couldn’t make it stick, and had to settle for 2nd. Despite that, he and the team should be pleased, as they are still working on the bike, as well as his fitness for next year. After looking good at the last race, and in practice this weekend, the other Honda riders weren’t able to be anywhere near Marc when it came to race time. With injuries still haunting Marquez, they need to ensure this isn’t just a bike that works for Marc!
Mir was disappointed with 3rd, and said that his grid position cost him, whilst I kind of see what he is saying, he was in the lead group for the first few laps, so should have been able to go with the front 2. His pace was similar to Bagnaia to be fair, however in a straight fight, the power of the Ducati would have destroyed him! At least it is better than Britain, and he closed slightly on Quartararo, yet I doubt he and the bike have enough to really close the lead down further! After the terrible qualifying on Saturday, Rins was only really looking at low points in the race, which was what he got. He needs to take the rest of the year to regroup before a fresh start in 2022.
Alex Espargaro did all he could this weekend, but it wasn’t quite enough for another podium. Much like others, his tyres fell off in the latter stages of the race, which meant he lost contact with Mir. Still, 4th is superb for the team who before this year struggled to get in the top 10. Vinales was able to improve slightly for qualifying, but couldn’t continue that in the race, ending up 18th. Apparently braking is his main issue, which might be a quick fix before Misano, however I am sure he hoped for more this weekend!
It wouldn’t be a MotoGP race, without Binder coming from nowhere, to challenge towards the front in the closing laps. His pace wasn’t as stunning as we have seen in previous races, and he was actually passed by Bastiannini late on in the race, yet given where they were, 7th is all KTM could ask of him! Lecuona once again was the 2nd best KTM, more than 5 seconds ahead of Olivera and Petrucci. Suggesting KTM may have been a bit too fast in releasing him!
For the best Yamaha to be 8th, in a season where they have been dominant a lot of the time, is proof that this is a bogey track for them. Qualifying made us think they had solved their issues, but early on in the race, we could see Fabio was struggling, and in fact tyre wear wasn’t the issue, as he fought back from 14th late on, to save some points for his championship hunt! Crutchlow did well to only be 10 seconds off Quartararo, especially given he started well behind him, so he probably lost most of that time on Lap 1. Rossi was nowhere, actually battling with Dixon, before the latter crashed, hurting his chances of keeping the seat for 2022!
Momentum is well and truly behind Bagnaia as we head to his home track, where he needs to keep the pressure on Fabio, and hope they aren’t as good there as they were last year!
-M
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