Well friends, as usual, the MotoGP race was very interesting, this time in Portimao. First of all, I would like to thank you for the trust you have placed in the channel and that has made us grow up to 30.000 subscribers and we have reached half a million views in just three weeks, which is incredible. It is you who make it possible for the channel to grow so fast with you subscribing and that is why we are on our way to 50,000, as we reach 100,000 I have a surprise prepared for you that you will like.
Let's go with the summary of the weekend.
The grand prix started with the return of Marc Márquez as the main attraction of the weekend and from the beginning, contrary to what I predicted on Thursday, I was wrong, Marc Márquez had not returned to test his physical condition a bit, take it calmly ... no, no, Marc had returned as he left: with that aggressiveness, speed and little fear of taking risks, from which he had left in Jerez. He started FP1 and surprised everyone finishing third in mixed conditions which are always particular conditions and you have to be very careful not to have a major crash.
And in the afternoon when the track had dried up, when everyone started shooting for real, he surprised again finishing sixth.
Portimao is a very difficult circuit, of brave people, as some Italians would say "pelo sullo stomaco", of constant going up and down, that’s why they call it the roller coaster and that together with it’s little grip tarmac made the riders crash more than usual; Also violent crashes that have injured several riders, starting with Nakagami, then with Martín, Pol Espargaró in that last corner also with unevenness. And then lots of softer crashes, that I would like to make a reflection on. Lately I've been saying that MotoGP has improved a lot in show business: we see exciting races, with a lot of equality, that we had not seen to date. And MotoGP has also gained in safety: safer helmets, safer suits and even the circuits have increasingly greater security measures.
The change from two strokes to four strokes also meant eliminating crashes "by ears" or "highside" that is said in English, which injured riders many times but on the other hand, the bikes are faster in the straight, and not only the straight also in corners...
And what happens? that there are still many front wheel crashes and the rider at such speed reaches the gravel at a tremendous speed and when there is that change from tarmac to gravel, the rider starts spinning like a dummy and injuries happen as it happened to me in Assen 2019 or what happened to Jorge Martín on Saturday.
Motorcycling will continue to be a dangerous sport because when you combine speed and competition and many riders competing for the same thing, there is always risk but I would like to see a sport with less and less injuries and more and safer and for this I can only think of three solutions.
Option number one: make the bikes go slower. One solution is, for example, what the Formula 1 applied was to go from slick tyres to mixed tyres even in dry conditions, that made the cars slower when cornering. I remember when the displacement and the number of cylinders were reduced so that the engines were less powerful. Aerodynamics were also limited so that the cars did not have as much aerodynamic force .
.. MotoGP also did something similar, going from 1,000cc to 800cc, although later they went back to 1000cc and the bikes are faster than ever, but it is unlikely to happen and not viable at least in the short term, furthermore I believe that the bikes will keep getting faster. Solution number 2: increase the safety areas. That would make for more tarmac space before getting to the gravel and for the rider to slow down more before reaching gravel and starting to tumble; This option is also unlikely because the circuits will not change, especially if they are shared with Formula 1.
In the short term, this option is not feasible. Option number 3: that Michelin focuses on improving the front tyre creating less imbalance between the grip of the rear and front tyres, so that when one loses the front tyre they can save the crash, as happened with the Bridgestones, thanks to to the great front grip and to be able to continue on the track.
Unless your name is Marc Márquez, lately there are few saves like these and that would reduce those types of crashes. I would also like to talk about the yellow flags.Yellow flags that caused a lot of controversy after Pecco Bagnaia's time was canceled, which would have served him to make pole position and relegated him to eleventh position.
This rule, which has been implemented recently, is a rather unfair rule for those who suffer it, for the rider whose lap is canceled and who has previously not been able to do similar laps, fast laps, and who may lose an opportunity to, for example make the pole position and goes directly to the third or fourth row. But at the safety level it is the best solution in the sense that we cannot allow ourselves that while a rider is recovering from the crash and there are marshalls helping him, another rider arrives, as happened in the past, also after a crash and that goes so fast that hits the downed rider or the marshalls and that there is a “massacre”.
We can't play around so it’s the best solution. What is clear is that the rider has to see that yellow flag and for now that visibility is insufficient. The rider is concentrated on doing the fastest lap, the yellow flag in many corners is too far out of the rider's field of vision, and like Pecco, he didn't really see it.
You have to find a different solution, I do not know if it is to make a giant screen at cinema level in the corners where the yellow color is clearly visible or that the rider gets a yellow flashlight so that he can see it without any problem, but they have to look for a solution because right now the visibility is too little to see the yellow flag.
I can't start without talking about a name other than Fabio Quartararo for the 9 of the 99. Like in Qatar 2, he was ”Mr. Perfect”. I already said on Thursday that Portimao was going to be a great opportunity to see the best Quartararo ever, a strong rider always and he didn’t disappoint.
We could see it in FP4, he was the rider with the most pace, the only one to be in 39s and not only in one lap but 8, on eight occasions he did 39s in that FP4 that he dominated clearly and the FP4 is very enlightening. Sometimes Viñales was the fastest and disappointed in the race, but this time Fabio did not and he is in incredible shape. He is riding aggressive but at the same time fine, aggressive in the braking, he is even exaggerating more that way he has of lifting the rear wheel, braking very aggressively but at the same time cornering fast and riding the Yamaha in an exquisite way.
And then he also does the second part of the race better than the rest, at least in these last two races he has been clearly superior increasing his distance in those last 10 laps and well he is clearly the favourite for the title, now he is already the leader and until Márquez is back in shape, without a doubt, he is being the strongest. It will be very interesting when Márquez is back in shape.
We will see those Fabio-Marc duels again as in 2019, but this time with a stronger Fabio. About Marc Márquez, more than his speed, I was even more surprised by his return after 9 months from a super complicated injury, possibly the longest injury in motorcycling history, and has returned to race MotoGP without any fear of hurting himself again, to crash again, having scares, risking, ambitioning to achieve an incredible result ... he is from another planet, he is made of another paste.
I compare him a lot with Toni Bou in Trial, he really has skills superior to others and that makes him superior in most races, what happens is that he suffered an injury and until he recovers it may take a while until he is back to being the top Márquez of that 2019 and there are new younger rivals around, such as Quartararo with 21 years, Mir with 22, Bagnaia with 23 or 24, they are younger than him and they have to evolve more than him.
He is already 28. But I have no doubt that Marc will win races again, he will fight for the World Championship again, perhaps in this one as well. I'm not giving him a 10 because he was so surprising on Friday that a result was expected maybe better than 7th place, but he completely did what he had to do. He went through a difficult situation, in which the arm was still not recovered 100%, now this situation has passed, and in the next race there will be less risk of injuring the arm.
I have no doubt that it is only a matter of time and physical form to see the best Marc again. Pecco Bagnaia did a great race. It was a shame that they took away his pole position, because he showed in the race that together with Fabi, he was the one with the better pace and I'm sure that if he had started in pole position he wouldn't have had to strive so much coming back because he made a great comeback, an incredible comeback, and perhaps he could have put Fabio in trouble at the end of the race. Anyway, he was able to handle the Yamaha and the Suzuki, which seemed superior in cornering, since in my opinion his riding style minimizes that handicap that Ducati has in corners, the bike is still a bit rough, but his riding style, that lets the bike ease in the corner, it allows him to lose a little less than Zarco or Miller, who are more pointy in the corner.
So he is second in the championship so far and takes the lead at the Ducati factory First podium of the season for Joan Mir, who continues to use that strategy of scoring points and being very regular as in 2020, which gave him so many good results.
But this time benefited by the big mistake made by Alex Rins, his teammate, with few laps to go because he lost his front again as happened in the past and lost a good opportunity to be ahead of Mir and question his leadership a bit. I think that this time, unlike in Qatar, the Suzuki was a winning bike but Fabio came out again superior to the others that prevented Suzuki from getting their first victory, but the bike was very agile during the weekend, It was very tight in the corner and the bike turned, so in the end with that mistake by Alex Rins, Joan is still the undisputed leader of the factory.
Another excellent performance by Aléix, three in a row. The truth is that he is bringing out the best version of himself riding better than ever. Also crashing very little, because usually Aléix is one of the riders who crashes the most throughout the season but this season, for now, he is practically not crashing and we even see him leading training sessions many times, which is no coincidence, these great races he’s doing, but it is something worked and deserved.
I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the podium throughout the season or in the top five improving that best Aprilia result of 6th place.
The only thing is that he has better beginning of the race or first part of the race than the second. The second part usually starts to lose ground with the winner and they should focus a bit on trying to improve that second half of the race. I don't think it is Aleix's fault but rather he is trying to be with an inferior bike close to the first positions in the first laps, that makes you wear out a little more at the tyre, riding and physical level, and then he suffers a little more in the second part of the race. .
With which it is the only thing Aleix lacks to improve that 6th place. We get to the disappointments of the day. I said on Thursday that I saw Johan strong, convinced after taking the lead in the World Championship and taking two second places and with the mental predisposition to continue like this, to continue to be very consistent and to continue to be on the podium.
And the truth is that he was complying. He did great practice sessions, in the race he was in second place many laps but in the end Bagnaia came from behind, faster than him, he passed him and when Johan saw a Ducati in front of him he suddenly started to get nervous and in a few corners he made a mistake and lost the front wheel.
It was a great shame because he could have followed that line of consistency and now he has Pecco who is riding the Ducati better and he is ahead in the points in the points and loses that leadership of the factory a bit. The truth is that I don't give him a 5, I give him a 6, because he was fast all weekend and it is the consolation that he has that he continues to go fast not only in Qatar but also this circuit.
Bad times for Valentino, who suffered the first crash of the season and who only obtained four points so far. I was able to observe him during practice, especially when he was behind Bagnaia, and the truth is that he is having with difficulties, slow in movements compared to the aggressiveness of Quartararo or Viñales who ride, especially when braking, very aggressively, and Valentino's movements are a little slower and that makes him lose a few tenths over the course of a lap. The positive point is that he was a little faster or closer to those to the leaders than in Qatar 2, especially in positions, until the crashI think he was in eleventh position or 12 and that these races are over and surely more favorable circuits for him will come.
This Thursday I said that Miguel Olivera was the favourite for two reasons: the first for playing at home and knowing the circuit better than anyone, and the second for having obviously won last year, also with the superiority with which he won. En ningún momento vimos la sombra del Miguel At no time did we see the Miguel from last year, both in practice and in the race and what is worse, he crashed and his teammate Binder finished fifth s the best result of the factory so far.
It will be interesting to know how Miguel recovers from this blow for the next races because it is never easy to overcome a crash and for your teammate to beat you twice in a row. For me, Jack Miller is the biggest loser of the day because a lot was expected of Jack. In pre-season practice he was the fastest, he arrived as the favourite to Qatar and he could not keep up, he was 9th in the first race, 9th in the second and this time he made a mistake.
We continue to see the fickle Jack Miller, the one who is imprecise in the lines, who goes off track during training many times and in the race also sometimes makes this type of mistakes, that he loses the front and the race ends for him . I think he should focus a little and improve that line precision, always draw in the same line that will make him maintain a consistency in the race that he has not shown at the moment and also a little self-management of pressure and nerves to be constant and to not make mistakes and crash.
It is true that he came from a forearm operation that is not the best thing to race but today he could have finished the race in the top five and he did not. And in the I told you section, the one who disappointed this time was me, who practically failed to get anything right. It was the worst race I did of 3.
I put Morbidelli in pole position, which I failed, as Fabio golt it. Winner also said Morbidelli. Second, I said Oliveira, who also had a bad weekend, and the only one who could help me a little was Zarco with that podium, but I also made a mistake. As surprises I put Morbidelli and, well let's "accept octopus as a pet", otherwise you’ll sink me into misery, let me win something at least ..
. And of the 800 comments we received we had a winner: 100% correct, you have heard well 100% correct, and Juan Bueno Borreda hit pole position, hit the first, second and third.
We won’t count the surprise because it is a bit subjective, so he had 100% correct answers, congratulations! As a prophet you would be number 1 Juan. Daniel García Gómez finished second with a 75% accuracy (pole position, first and second) and the third position went to José Antonio SP who hit pole position, first and third.
Finally, I don't want to close this 99sseconds chapter without sending a big hug to Jorge Martín and a message of encouragement with that recovery.
I think it is a toll that all of us who race in MotoGP have to pay, but once it is over I am sure we will see the best version of Martinator, get well soon!.
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