MotoGP is always colored red: Bagnaia wins, dominating the weekend. Podium for Vinales and Bezzecchi, Marquez disastrous.
– Francesco Bagnaia dominated the first MotoGP weekend. Little else to add. If it hadn’t been for the pole position, literally stolen by Marquez, it would have been for the reigning world champion Hat trick: pole, sprint race e gara. Luckily, however, the points are scored in the race and Pecco brings the beauty of 37 points with him to Argentina. The Ducati is a wonderful bike, true, but you have to know how to win races and possibly manage them. And here Bagnaia proves to be a master race after race, once again silencing those who do not define it as a phenomenon absolute. If we consider that in the first 4 races of last year, in which he was crowned champion, he picked up just 12, we can define the start of the new season as “discreet” for “the Pinturicchio of motorcycles”, as Domenicali defined him today. We are faced with a national heritage, let’s hold onto it tightly;
– Due to the serious injury sustained yesterday during the sprint race, Enea Bastianini’s World Championship could already be compromised. Paradoxical to say it only at the first race but this year we have 30% more points available than in past seasons. So two (or three) consecutive 0s could weigh irreparably, especially if your opponent is your teammate and rides the same bike as you. However, we understand that talking about the standings after the first race leaves the time it finds and last year’s World Championship is there to prove it. But having a lead of 30 points over Marquez, 12 over Vinales and 29 over Quartararo is no small matter for Bagnaia who, perhaps, could hardly have imagined such a start;
– Marquez’s madness ruined poor Oliveira’s race. Off to a flying start, the host had taken the lead of the race, overtaken only a few laps later by Bagnaia and Martin. The podium, however, seemed to be within the reach of the Portuguese, who has evidently already found an excellent feeling with his customers’ Aprilia. Until Marquez, who was also in the podium area, decided to hit him right when entering the corner. Serious and glaring mistake, perhaps dictated by the frustration of not owning such a performing vehicle that forces him to make a crazy effort, as he himself admitted. In the closed park the same Marquez spoke of a problem with the bike as he went to apologize to Oliveira. If so, we too would be very ready to take a step back and exonerate him;
– It is an increasingly Italian MotoGP. In fact, there are three motorcycles and two Italian riders on the podium at Portimao. A sign that the movement is more alive than ever and that, once again, we are still good at making motorcycles. Bagnaia, Vinales and Bezzecchi, in order, on the first podium of the season. As predicted, or almost. Il Passo di Vinales, in fact, didn’t surprise us at all. Since the tests, the Aprilia has seemed very fast, perhaps the only bike capable of keeping up with the Ducati on the straight and through corners. Vinales, from him, had already given important signs of awakening from the middle of last championship and the pace he imposed on today’s race is there to prove it;
– The Sprint race experiment worked, giving life to a Saturday that couldn’t be more fun. Great competitive spirit, not very high pace but fun for the public guaranteed. We don’t feel able to say that the same applies to the riders, given that yesterday there were many complaints about the aggressiveness with which the “half race” was tackled. It was above all the innocent Bastianini who paid the price, hit in full by Marini who was trying to come back. It seems to us, however, that rather than being a problem related to the Sprint, is a wrong attitude of the pilots. It’s true that it’s always better to let it go, but respect for safety requires a reminder from the race direction. Two serious accidentsto which we add the bad injury to Pol Espargaro on Friday, in just one weekend it is objectively too much.
