The MotoGP World Championship It has started crazy, without control, uncertain, very exciting, true, but disconcerting. The injuries that the Catalan champion continues to suffer Marc Márquez (Honda)to whom everyone, everyone, recognizes an unquestionable authority when he is well (“Marc is one point above the others”, he confessed, on Sunday, Alberto Puigsports manager of the Repsol Honda team, after his spectacular comeback from 24th to 6th), and the poor role so far played by the two great protagonists of last season, the French champion Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)22, and Italian ‘Peak’ Bagnaia (Ducati)has allowed the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati)winner in Qatar and USA, the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (KTM) and the Catalan Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) be the winners of the first four races.
The confusion surrounding the performance of Bagnaia, one of the very few riders, along with Marc Márquez, who already have a contract for the next two years, is tremendous and, for now, apart from a small clash of criteria when testing or not try pieces during the weekends, the truth is that ‘Peak‘ hasn’t quite found the key to his new bike which, by the way, is finally equipped, at his express wish, with the engine from last year’s ‘Desmosedici’.
little power
Something less disconcerting, it is true, is the role that the ‘Diablo’ French, without a doubt a true champion, capable of conquering the scepter, last year, without having, far from it, the best bike, which is still the Ducati. Quartararo, whose bike on one kilometer straights like the one in Austin (Texas, USA), last weekend, loses up to 10 km/h. with respect, not only to the impressive ‘Desmosedici’ but also to the Honda and, now, even with respect to the Suzuki, it defends itself belly up as best it can and remains in fifth place overall, 17 points behind ‘ The Beast’ Bastianini.
“If the bike is ready to be able to aspire to renew the title?”, Quartararo wonders. “I have my opinion, but I give my 100% all the time, in every training session and in every race.” It is clear that the answer, without words, is that the current Yamaha M1 is not ready according to its main pilot, who is absolutely alone before the rest of his colleagues from other brands. “We will have to wait, for example, for tracks like Jerez, to take advantage of the conditions of our bike. It is clear that we lack power and it is clear that it will be difficult to find it for the rest of the season”. “What do I ask of Yamaha?” the Frenchman wondered at one point during the winter tests, “something very simple: more power, more top speed”.
Quartararo, a rider who has tremendously praised Marc Márquez (“his absence hurts us all a lot, since he has been, at least for me, the reference in MotoGP”), assures that the fight he had with the eight-time champion de Cervera (Lleida) “was once again a lesson, in the sense that I learn more fighting with him, even for sixth place, as we did on Sunday in Austin, than from many great prizes Which I ended up winning.”
“What do I ask of Yamaha? Something as simple as more power, more top speed”
It is evident that Quartararo knows that, at the moment, he is in inferiority of conditions with respect, not only to the rest of the brands, but also to the rest of the favorites. And, in that sense, the ‘Devil’ hopes that when he has everything ready, if he manages to have it, “I will be able to fight for victories”.
One thing is evident and very clear: Yamaha will have to make an effort in the next Grand Prix to improve the M1, to give its captain, its champion, what it needs because we are in a year of renewals and, possibly, many brands aspire to get signed to Quartararo, who has shown that, with a competitive bike, he is a constant contender for victory. The signature of the tuning forks is in dangerand big, of losing his best value, his champion.
