Losail 2017 - After race analysis

Despite the bad jokes by the weather and the delayed start (this deserves to be analysed apart), this season started in a great way.

Let's begin from the podium protagonists where we find 2 Factory Yamaha in first and third position.
After a chalky start, Vinales lost the contact with the first row but then he unlocked himself and he recovered the distance arriving even to the far away Dovizioso's tail. Indeed Dovi was in first position and had several seconds of gap which gave the impression to run away from the others. Despite that, the wonderful ride by Maverick and the stunning top speed by Ducati created a well balanced duel lasted several laps. I was not expecting Dovizioso to win it and he didn't indeed even if he made a beautiful race.

Less fortune for the teammates of this two guys. Before the race Vinales said to have the impression that Valentino was "playing hide and seek" during FP sessions and part of it looked reasonable after race, especially if we think he had even the possibility to reach the two in front. Then at few laps to go, unfortunately, he had some issue with the right side of the tires. Wisely he changed the pace preserving the situation and concluding third with no risk.

Disappointing Lorenzo who lost no minute to blame (little sportingly) how lucky the protagonists have been due to the track conditions. We know he doesn't like the wet, but he got 5 point anyway concluding 11th.

For few instants we saw Zarco first and he was surprisingly able to get some distance from the followers, even if at the end he crashed in the gravel loosing the front. He'll be soon on the podium, I'm sure of it. He is a great rider.

Phenomenon Marquez has been strangely absent from the podium who by the way reached the fourth place. Due to his lack of performances the last laps, his teammate arrived very close to him.

My congratulations to Espargaro who brought the poor Aprilia in 6th after few exchanges with Pedrosa in the middle of the race. It's true, few riders crashed in front of him, but it's enough to look at his teammate Lowes to conclude he made a great job.

I'm willing to see a less clumsy Iannone and a more competitive Rins: Suzuki deserves better results. By the way I have to say he made a great battle with Marquez. Moreover I suspect he crashed to avoid Marc in a sector where he was particularly slow. I would define it a risk of the trade.

KTM, no way...

Losail 2017 - Initial thoughts

There are already several differences compare to last year. In 2016 the qualifying results had Lorenzo leading the group with 1.55.3: this means that the average pace improved about 1 second and we are still in free practices!
Theoretically when the rhythm increase, it means the braking spaces decrease and also the possibilities to overtake, but this is not necessarily the rule. 

The weather then changed the conditions of the track compromising the feeling of the riders.

I was really surprised by Iannone who made the same time lap by the very strong and persistent Vinales in FP3, despite is lacking of top speed and despite the very long straight. Less good for Marquez, suspiciously I would say, who has been slower even than his teammate Pedrosa, but it's too early to jump to conclusions. 

Rossi has definitely some problem, like the rear shock sensor or the electronic throttle failure, which compromised his time lap more than once. The Doctor summarized all of it in a very bad job during the winter tests, which could possibly be but which makes him the latest of the Yamahas for 3 times in a row and his personal team the only one with this issue. 

Tech3 should be proud of the results so far. Zarco is frightfully fast and competitive and I believe he will be annoying for the front riders during the race. Despite his teammate Folger has been very fast too, I don't think he will be one of the protagonists due to his lack of determination. Of course I hope to be wrong on this.

A disappointing Lorenzo has been not able to qualify himself for the Q2 where his teammate Dovizioso and Redding (on GP16) did it. The high to speed by Ducati is very important here in Qatar, but is not enough and it's necessary to work better on handling.

Below the 10 riders deck qualified in Q2:

1. Maverick Vinales Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 
2. Andrea Iannone      Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 
3. Marc Marquez         Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 
4. Johann Zarco Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)
5. Andrea Dovizioso    Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 
6. Scott Redding Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 
7. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 
8. Jonas Folger       Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 
9. Cal Crutchlow         LCR Honda (RC213V) 
10. Valentino Rossi Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 

Losail 2017 - Pre-championship tests

The tests have been characterized by the new aerodynamic quirks by almost everybody

As it turns out, Yamaha started the new fashion for not-dangerous wings. Probably Ducati brought the  absurdest, the "hummer-style" windshield. Despite all the controversies, everything seems to be in good standing and in line with the regulation, for them and the others too.

Speaking about serious stuff, we can assume that Vinales and Marquez are the front-runners of this year from these tests. Personally, I believe that in this particular GP Ducati will be very competitive, as it always has been. However, I don't think they are perfectly ready to fight for the championship. Who knows, maybe they invent something in these days.

Vinales's crew seems to be quicker and more efficient than Rossi's one. By the way the Doctor seems to be confident and positive for the race. Indeed the 8 tents of gap are inline with his standard.

The gaps are generally very small and by this we can expect great battles from the beginning, supposing that Michelin made his job properly since last year the number of overtakes decreased, even though the bikes could go faster.

Almost there...

Sepang tests 2017

Vinales is dangerous since the beginning: the new Yamaha is good and the confidence got allowed him to reach the best lap time in 1.59.368 when the official record registered is by Pedrosa back in 2015 in 1.59
Very tough tests with 15 riders in less than a second and 10 in less than half. If the level seemed high last year, this one will be even higher.

Ducati has been fast in each session but doesn't surprise that much, usually the problems come out during the race. However the engineer Gigi Dall'Igna is confident and the scope this season is the victory with no excuse.
Impressive Stoner who even if away from competition for a while, he is still fast and in the first day registered the best lap time.

News from the Yamaha Factory team with the aerodynamic modification they brought: it's a double air intake besides the radiator in the same position where the more dangerous wings were. This is something which created some controversy, but it has been approved and also the other teams could get inspiration by that. Let's see what happens...

Good impressions from Valentino and he is in perfect shape even after the holidays.

Good improvements also by Aprilia which is only 7 tenths from the lead with Aleix Espargaro.

The tests are not over, indeed the riders will move to Philip Island for half February to go on. For sure this is a better season period compare to the one chosen for the race last year. If I know Lorenzo, for sure he hopes in sunny days...

Sepang 2016 - After race analysis

Personally I don't like that much this track, but it seems the riders like the new modifications applied soon before the F1 GP, with new more abrasive asphalt and different camber for some corners.

The superiority by Ducati in tough situations is quite indisputable. I think that Dovizioso would not win easily a race with a noncompetitive bike, indeed this is his second victory in this class since when he started, after he won in Donington in 2009 in very similar weather conditions on HRC Honda. By the way to be fair, he concluded his race despite his teammate Iannone, without mistakes.

Iannone gave us a really exciting battle with Rossi in the first part of the race. The crash at turn 9 at 7 laps to go has been a big shame, fortunately without serious consequences for his already precarious back.

Rossi after a terrible start, recovered the lost positions in just one inhuman braking at turn 9 for then having an amazing challenge with the friend Iannone. Probably it's the most funny part of the race. Unfortunately, with few laps to go, the track started drying quickly and, after leading the group for a big part of the session, he received 2 calls from the right side of his front tyre and had to slow down after going wide at turn 1. Easy job for Dovizioso that overtook him in that turn and got enough safe gap to win.

We had also a nice battle between Crutchlow and Marquez that unfortunately crashed both respectively at turn 2 and 11. After a deep analysis to Marc's crash I got the conclusion that he has been more unlucky than wrong, since he lost the front accelerating. The change of weight distribution on a V4 engine is quite unpredictable then if we think about the conditions and the tires, to crash was not too complicated. By the way it needs to say that Marquez itself said to be glad to be free from stress and able to drive as he wants and he crashed twice in a row... However he made an admirable job recovering the crashed motorcycle concluding 11th.

I'm surprised by Lorenzo who has been particularly honest in the interview after race saying that he got the podium because of the crashes. But it would be unfair if we did not say he improved a lot on the wet this weekend despite his bad relationship with the Michelin tires. He would have probably concluded 5th by the way, which is not bad at all.

Next and final round on November 13 in Valencia.

Motegi 2016 - After race analysis

We cannot say we had great battles in this race, but we cannot say nothing happened neither.
With Motegi result, Marc Marquez mathematically got the world championship 2016. His pace has been fast for all the weekend-end, starting from second place on the grid, took the lead, got some gap and went to win.
Marc has definitely a great talent who grew up race after race and who makes few mistakes but not that much. Despite the inferiority, even if a little bit, of his Honda compare to Yamaha, he always played is game fairly and got always points. I think his determination has been the key of this success.

Yamaha had a double fiasco. Rossi gave a bit of fun in the first part of the race struggling with Marquez. Then after passing Lorenzo he tried to recovery the gap on Marc but at turn 11 he arrives wide and too close to the limit, loosing the front end. The championship is officially over. This mistake could compromise also his second position but Lorenzo, at few laps to the end, crashes at turn 10. A very strange crash though that I would define a "Michelin crash", where he lost the front end without pushing and during acceleration. 

With both the Yamaha riders out of the game, Dovizioso can take easily the second place, followed by Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.
Suzuki worked very well all the weekend and their progression during the year is something of admirable.
Dovizioso has been even better probably helped by the low temperatures which we know they are appreciated by Ducati.

The battle for the second and third place in championship remains open. Next round in Philip Island

Aragon 2016 - After race analysis

Marquez's supremacy in qualifying session has been confirmed in race too. After a bad front loosing, he focused looking for the tyre feeling and once he got it, he recovered the positions lost, he took the lead, got some gap and went to the checking flag. Arrived to this point, the possibilities of recovering by Rossi with -52 points and only 4 races left seem to be almost none. Even if not mathematically confirmed, Marc proved to have enough maturity, speed and effectiveness to get the 2016 title.  

We saw also beautiful overtakes between the Yamaha teammates, with Lorenzo in troubles in the first part of the race and Rossi in the second. Then Valentino made a bad mistake loosing the reference for braking, going wide and loosing any possibility to get the second place. A pretty normal mistake even if preferably avoidable. He had quite visible traction problems due to spinning, especially in the third and forth sectors.

Suzuki had a bit more problems despite the optimistic preview of the team manager Davide Brivio. By the way the race is always different from free practice sessions and Vinalez risked several times, not only to crash, but also to involve other riders (like Lorenzo in turn 1). The 4th place is a very good result though.

Pedrosa furious! A setup problem in the rear tyre and a defect in the front one, compromise all the race of the Spanish rider who had almost to ruin his feet to stay on the bike and to end. Let's remember that Dani is not a polemic rider at all and when he speaks about a problem, the problem exists. Indeed...

And also this time... both the Aprilia arrived in the top 10 with just 1 missing rider in the grid. Quietly they are coming...

Next round in the 16th of October in Motegi.

Misano 2016 - After race analysis

I'm going to make an analysis on the main facts of the race instead of on the singular riders.
Michelin has reached the performances of Bridgestone, being better in some cases. However, the kind of tyre seems to permit just to keep a pace without passing it. This particular race proved that. Indeed we had overtakes but no battle at all. It's like to watch many Lorenzo all together which keep their own pace an nothing else. It's boring!
As Rossi said, this track is easier from a technical point of view compare to Silverstone but it's more difficult to overtake. This is the reason why we had so many discussions on so few overtakes we got.

Let's take the most viral, Rossi on Lorenzo in turn 14. It happened at the beginning of the race. It cannot be classified between the "clean" ones because the rider overtaken had to modify his line to avoid the accident. However it was absolutely legal and permitted move where theoretically had to be no contact at all. Why happened then?

The camera on the tail of Valentino's bike speaks itself: it shows the move before the turn and as you can see, Lorenzo saw very well Rossi. My theory is he deliberately simulated surprise to mask the enter as not regular or very dirty, keeping his ideal line and changing at the last moment looking for the contact. In fact Rossi was already passed indeed Jorge almost touched his back wheel form external. He theoretically had to modify his line to let the overtaker make his move (unavoidable) in a safe situation, for then answer later, eventually. This not happened and we had instead several controversies, which got worse during the interviews.

Was made that overtake in that particular moment right? Sipping Martini on the couch it's easy to say, on race is very different. Lorenzo teaches us if he starts in front and gets little gap, then is unreachable. I would say it definitely was right.

And Pedrosa? Wonderful race from 8th to the lead making a precise and spectacular overtake on Rossi (paradoxically dirtier than the one we've just seen). The Italian tried then to resist, making a couple of laps lightly faster, but not enough to reply to Dani. Better to take points also today, even if few.

Marquez had serious problems and just kept his pace for the whole race. Strange result despite the amazing time laps registered during the warmup session. Still a safe situation in the championship at +43pt, fine enough so far...

A little quick consideration also for Bautista who finally brought the Aprilia in the top 10

Next round in a couple of weeks in Aragon. 

Silverstone 2016 - After race analysis

Silverstone is a quite flat and long track with huge runoffs in asphalt. All the races of the last weekend have been plenty of battles and the final gaps were surprisingly content. By that, it's the ideal track for fun and motorcycles in general.
The weather compromised the qualifying session, but not the race which has been dry until the end. A red flag due to a crash between Pol Espargaro and Baz (with no consequence for them) obligated to start a second time the race.

Vinales gives a wonderful victory to the team Suzuki after years without a result like that. The team manager Davide Brivio is usually very careful on comments before the race, but that day he has been more confident than usual. He was right! Vinales jumps in the front of the grid soon after the start and gets a gap which suggests there is no way to beat him. Simply impregnable. Moreover, with this result he overtakes Pedrosa in the championship going in 4th.

Crutchlow liked the taste of the last podium and in battle is very hard to beat. After a good start manages the situation staying in the group Rossi-Marquez-Iannone-Pedrosa. The conditions of the tires in the end are still fine and after overtaking Valentino resists to a tenacious and determined Marquez which is forced kowtow in front of Cal. A wonderful and spectacular ride by him, from a couple of races, the best Honda rider.

Rossi takes the first laps of the race struggling a bit to cool down the hard compound tires. After that he takes the lead of the second place group managing for large part of the session. Then Marquez becomes insidious with so many things to clarify with him. The two of them start to overtake each other taking many risks and contacts up to the limit of the regulations. Marquez to avoid the crash is forced to run off the track to then come back quickly to his place, loosing nothing, overtaking him soon after. But unfortunately the rear tyre starts spinning and Valentino has absolutely to get points, so he opted to dose the throttle and resign himself to watch the opportunity of the podium going away. But then something happens: Marquez, trying to overtake Crutchlow with a inhuman braking, goes to get mushrooms outside the track giving to Rossi the opportunity desired. A real stroke of luck which reduces a bit the gap between them in the championship. Good race by the Italian which managed the technical problems of the Yamaha egregiously. (-50pt)

Marquez struggled this weekend like not many other times in his carrier. The 4th place is more than satisfying though, however he got too many risks. Too nervous to arrive in the podium, too determined to crash. Good but not too much.

A shame for Iannone which was the only one to have the pace close to Vinales, unfortunately crashed after a wonderful remount.

Lorenzo absent from the protagonists's list. Unexpected performances due to the pace during the dry free practice and the swagger statements of superiority before the race. In my opinion too much words and not determined enough.

Next round in Misano this weekend

Brno 2016 - After race analysis

It happened all. The bad weather compromised the race to somebody and made the life hard for somebody else. The race started in very wet conditions but with no rain. The choice of the strategy is crucial in this cases.

Crutchlow won his first GP in MotoGP class opting for a setup which initially doesn't pay back. The hard compound indeed has problem to get the proper temperature and it requires more time. The British wet experience suggested to Cal that the asphalt in those conditions would have probably issues to dry and the best choice was to arrive up to the end without swapping the bike. If he had chosen the softer option like anybody else out there (suggestible if you have to swap the bike) he would have serious problems like what happened to the factory Ducati team which dominated all the race but concluded with a no classification for Dovizioso and the 8th place for Iannone.

Rossi managed the race as a champion. Yamaha risks and decides to put the hard compound just in the rear in both the bikes. It goes bad and the riders lose lots of positions going even out from the top 10. Valentino starts to desperate and to regret for the choice but then the situation changes and the tyre starts to work properly and he becomes the fastest in a moment where nobody is. He skips the Yamahas Tech3, the Suzukis, the very fast Ducatis and Marquez. Cal is too far to start a chase with 4 laps to the end. For today it's fine like this. Surprising performance by Valentino who overtakes Lorenzo in the championship going at -53 from Marquez.

Marquez opted for the common choice getting the soft compound to then change the bike at half of the race (since there was no rain). However the asphalt doesn't dry and Marc noticed that. He decides to slow down to preserve the tires for having something at the end. He loses positions going back in 5th but remaining there checking the situation. When few laps remain to the end he changes pace and overtakes the Ducatis in the front seizing the podium. A mature and professional management by the young rider who limits the damage once again in the best way. (197pt)

Lorenzo fails again in the rain making confusion and changing the bike in the wrong moment, when he was starting to recovery positions. He also tried to swap the bike a second moment but changing his mind at the last minute. Hilarious moment which shows a leaking of professionalism by the Spanish rider who is literally wasting points important for the championship. It seems he is there just for presence. He concludes in last position with on lap of gap.

Great result for the Ducati Avintia racing team GP2014 which having old generation Ducati made a better result than the factory team. Baz 4th and Barbera 5th after a great battle with Iannone

Next round at Silverstone