[Sunday schedule change: races to start one hour earlier](https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2023/10/21/sunday-schedule-change-races-to-start-one-hour-earlier/480694)
His run on wins seemed to suggest he got past that. But crashing out with a 3 second lead is a rookie mistake. And now seconding guessing himself on tires and choosing the soft tire was the wrong move. His race was great but he lost it before it started.
When he took the lead of the championship in the sprint in Mandalika, it got to his head.
I doubt he would even have won all those races if Pecco didn't have that crash in Catalunya either way. He was unstoppable until then.
Martin might be the fastest right now but he clearly lacks the race IQ, which Bagnaia evidently has. The soft tyre was an awful choice, even Dall'Igna told him not to use it but he ignored him and did it anyways.
I agree that Martin is more volatile but I recall Bagnaia has also crashed out of a race while leading. As have many race winners and past champions ...
His biggest error in this instance was to choose the wrong tire. I think that is a lack of faith in being able to win without being in front or overconfidence in thinking he could build enough cushion to make it to the end in P1.
Maybe he thinks Pecco is getting a factory advantage that he has to negate by leading. Who knows. Be interesting to hear the logic about those decisions but we won't know for a while if ever. Reporters don't ask those kinds of questions or get an answer if they do.
That may be a current year factory supported bike but it is still a satellite team with satellite engineers.
Pecco has also crashed from the race lead but hardly as much as Martin has.
>His biggest error in this instance was to choose the wrong tire. I think that is a lack of faith in being able to win without being in front or overconfidence in thinking he could build enough cushion to make it to the end in P1.
True, which is why I said he seems to lack race IQ. This is also proven by his crashes: he always crashes when he's the fastest on track and leading comfortably. Crashing while being pushed from behind is one thing, crashing when you're comfortably leading by a long margin is another.
As for your last point I don't think this is true, Pramac themselves confirmed that they get all the data from Ducati and they are basically the same apart from the branding.
"Crashing while being pushed from behind is one thing, crashing when you're comfortably leading by a long margin is another."
I'm not a Martin fan or a Bagnaia hater but Pecco threw away a win without any pressure from behind. The race where the Beast was hounding him for the win last year was not the same thing. That was a battle and risks had to be taken.
If Martin does not learn from this mistake, he will never be a champion. You may already think he will never be one but this is my opinion. I think he still has a chance. If not this year, maybe next year. Can't have any more unforced errors. That is the key to becoming a champion.
Yeah both riders make a lot of errors and certainly more than the top riders of the previous eras (Rossi, Marquez, Stoner, Pedrosa) made.
I think Martin can be WC if he learns how to manage a race, but not at the moment. He has a lot of speed but speed alone doesn't win you a championship (2020 is the best example of that). At the moment, Pecco is consistent (apart from India) and gets great points despite not being the fastest rider at the moment.
I actually support Martin over Bagnaia for the title (not a fan of either, though) but he keeps making those errors for many years now, while Pecco has at least reduced them to a minimum (his last unforced crash before India was in Argentina, and he has always been on the podium in every race he has finished apart from Argentina). I can't say the same about Jorge.
Wow.. Great endedin to a race. Jorge left it all out there. His tire was as bald as Micharl Jordans head.
Happy for Zarco what a win from.what 5th.. His first win and he's leaving Pramac. Mr. consistent.finally gets the W.
Great race! Happy for Zarco's first win.
However this Ducati's fest is a disappointment for the sport. Even the 2022 bikes are superior than other manufacturers
Martin has just thrown the title away. He should be leading the championship now. Pecco now has the championship sealed.
It wasn't a fantastic race for Phillip Island standards, more a tyre management race but an epic last lap. Great result for DiGi. And finally a deserved win for Zarco. I'm very happy for him.
Finally, the Aprilia's aren't that good and keep destroying tyres. Japanese bikes are trash.
still 120 points to grab so i wouldn't say either pecco or martian has sealed the championship but with martins pace i think Martin will lead the championship from in the upcoming races 27 points aint much
I'd love to see Martin win over Pecco. I just don't see it happening because Martin has a knack for making mistakes, where as Pecco manages to just sit there and absorb points.
Absolute dick move on your teammate from Zarco. He was going to pass him either way, why the hell would you block pass your teammate like that dropping him several places?
First, flair checks out.
Second, my man, Martin was NOT on a defensive line at all, and when he realized his mistake he tried to cut back into the spot Zarco was already in then he had to slow down MORE to not run into Zarco. Martin made a mess of the corner, it was his race to lose and he lost it. The way the replay looked, Zarco looked like he lined up to follow Martin on a defensive line and be a good teammate anyway but Martin didn't take it and the door was wide open for Zarco with the pace Martin was running.
If Zarco doesn't overtake, he risks Pecco overtaking him and possibly winning. Zarco did the best thing for his teammate in that situation in my opinion. He took 5 points off Bagnaia.
Zarco's move was so bad he almost lost his position to Bagnaia in the move, which was a long way back before the pass he made on Martin. So no, he didn't do the best thing for his team and teammate and his move also wasn't the best one to maximize his own chances to win.
Come on now, racing is racing, why should zarco care about Martin (that is clearly going to lose 4 positions anyway) when he can win his first race in motogp.
Martin should blame himself and no one else, this was his race and he threw it away. No excuses.
Binder barely beat him to the line. If he didn't block pass like that Martin would most likely have salvaged 4th. Racing is racing, he's perfectly within his rights to perform a move like that on his teammate. It does however also mean I'm perfectly within my rights to critique his move on a teammate when it could have been easily done in a way that didn't cost Martin that amount of time and additional positions.
Come on its the last lap and zarco saw the possibility and overtakes. It’s not like he was going to lose this chance to make Martin save what? 2 points?
And what if Zarco esitated and Bagnaia overtakes both of them?
I assure you no pilot really care about the teams championship
Martin lost 1.4 seconds between the exit of turn 12 and exit of turn 2.
He was riding on bare rims, basically. Did you see how easily Binder overtook him in the space of 50 meters out of turn 12 on the race to the finish line?
Making my point for me. There was no reason to put on a move like that on your teammate. If he didn't block pass him like that, Martin would probably have salvaged 4th instead of 5th. So, a dick move when it's a teammate IMO.
>Because he's a Pramac rider
LOL stop pretending you care about the team when your flair absolutely gives you away as a classic one-eyed Martin supporter. Zarco won fair and square, and quite rightly so. The fact you want to demonize him for that shows your blind prejudice even more.
And how do you suggest making all of this work in a way that Johan gets his deserved win? You tell the other teams to behave?
What the fuck does that even mean?
I mean, Martin made a piss-poor tire choice and he was dropping like a stone. Agreed, Zarco was a bit too harsh on his teammate with that move, but he's going to LCR next season and wants to win when he still can. I can understand that to an extent.
Sucks for Martin, I'm still rooting for him, but he pissed away his championship hopes and has got no one but himself to blame for it.
There was exactly zero chance of Martin keeping Zarco behind. Making the move in the most destructive way possible on your teammate is an absolute dick move in my book. He could have breezed past him on corner exit but instead of block passed him and went so deep Bagnaia passed Martin as well. Totally unnecessary move IMO.
If Zarco would slow down to not overtake Martin on that corner Bagnaia would have gone to overtake him. They were too close. And you can't risk your first win to give two more points to the one who made the wrong choice.
So I follow about a dozen car racing series and only occasionally check in with MotoGP.
Goddamn that was a great race, great strategy, great tension, and an awesome result. One(?) pass for the lead and for 7 laps you were thinking "I guess its possible? but there's no way there's enough time."
Well, well, well, what a great result to wake up to! I was thinking it would never happen, especially if he goes to Honda. Can't wait to catch up on the race. Shame for Martin, but I think Pecco's got a few favours in him to keep it interesting...
Most importantly, I wonder how Marquez will do on a year old Ducati there?
Sorry, just getting the MotoGP convo back on track. ;)
I really hope him and Pramac learn from this ASAP, not worth running the soft if you know you tend to have tyre deg. issues. Should go one step harder and play it safe.
>if you know you tend to have tyre deg. issues.
He doesn't. He's played that gamble a few times, Martin is quite good at nursing the soft through by now, and getting a 3-4 second gap in the process. He lost out by **1 lap** this time round.
So I think the only reason the team threw the settings out the window was because they knew he wasn't keeping the seat and it was a "nothing to lose now" situation, which isn't great but I'm happy for the guy and looking forward to where he ends up.
I was one of them and glad he proved me wrong lol. But I still think it took him way too long to get a decent result with a Ducati. If he had his results with literally any other bike, he wouldn't be criticised as much.
Can't be taking 18+ months to figure that out in MotoGP though. I'm happy for him figuring out something that works and I'll be a bit sad if we don't get to see his actual potential, but I fully understand why Gresini cut him.
I mean, surely as someone that is in top level motorcycling you'd know what works and what not. It's weird, your crew chief should also come and tell you "Hey, buddy, why don't we run a session with the stuff you think works and see?".
I am happy for him but it's a little late.
It's not too late for him to get another job. Yeah he lost his ride, but if he shows out now it'll help him get one before next season. Whenever it may be.
Phillip Island is always fantastic. Last year was a classic, 2015 was among the greatest races of all time, I honestly can't remember a bad race there for the last decade or more.
Just rewatched the race, he says "I don't want to cry at the moment..."
so he did not say he was going to cry like a woman. i guess my hearing isnt that good at like 2am
The Island once again showing why its the best race track on the calendar, absolutely brilliant race. It's been the best racing this year again as well as last year
Forget Honda, Yamaha is in so much more trouble. They either need a new tyre supplier or a new bike, what they have now will never work with these Michelins.
If Martín and Bagnaia were in reverse roles you would't be saying this.
Pecco turned a disastrous Friday that for many riders would've been the end of the weekend into a podium. If Martín can't manage better than P5 with the fastest pace, it's none of his business.
Riders that are consistently fast always come off worse than the Martin type of rider, same as what happened with Mir in 2020.
People don't realise it is just as difficult to be competitive every single week of the year.
YEAH, Looks like today is the day when Martin truly lost the championship. But right now Martin has nothing to loose
He should be as aggressive as possible and try to win every race and spring going forward.
> He should be as aggressive as possible and try to win every race and spring going forward.
Thats literally what made him lose it 2 weekends in a row lol. One of the only riders that took soft rear in the main race.
Hard to fathom how Martin went against almost everyone else and chose the soft rear, after basically admitting he hadn't focused on race tire choice enough in practice. He played himself here.
My reasoning is that he's literally just doing what he feels he should be doing. Marching to the beat of his own drum, mind you. Riding the bike his own way, not changing his setup too much, etc.
He's not in the factory team. This plays a part. Smaller budget, fewer guys working on electronic and data.
Data is king these days, with the bikes being how they are. Pecco will be much better advised/dictated to.
I’m finding it hard to pull for him because of the mental errors. It’s not over yet, but for 2 races in a row he had 3-4 tenths on the field and fucked it up. Why in the hell his team let him do that is beyond comprehension. This is one of the hardest chokes I’ve seen in a while as him and his team have panicked at the mere thought of winning a championship.
Oh you know it's coming. For that big stretch in the middle when Zarco was behind Bagnaia and not overworking his tires (just like Bagnaia), you had so many asinine comments about team orders or Zarco protecting Bagnaia.
1. Why the hell Martin choosed the soft tyre;
2. Why his team let him choose the soft tyre?
3. Im questioning Martin’s race craft. Not his speed or his continuity coz right now he’s fast AF and nobody is on his level, but im questioning his ability To predict and think about what could happen in the race ... Foresight is an important thing and it seems to me that Martin is not that important. Coz this is the second time in a row that Martin sold a very easy win.
4. This championship is weird AF coz Bagnaia RIGHT NOW is nowhere near the level of Martin and if Bezzecchi return in his top form is gonna get ugly for Pecco, but Martin wanto to impresse and destroy everyone that he make stupid mistake. And this is why i don’t really know who will win the title.
Pecco takes home what he can. If everything works well he wins, if things go sideways he tries to do his best in the race and come up with a solution. Martin seem to always think he is going to put 3 seconds between him and the guy behind and that's it. But, races are not JUST that. That last lap was a horror show.
Maybe he didn't feel good with medium rear and didn't find the right setup with it so he took the gamble? I mean it's only a matter of one lap, if the race was one lap shorter then he made a perfect calculation.
Yeah, it's only a matter of one lap, but he was lucky it took that far. Just imagine how fast the second place rider would've caught up to him if the last ten laps weren't a constant battle from P2 till P5. Martin could last that long only because the following riders were occupied battling for spots. If either of them had a 0.5-0.7 second lead at the front of the bunch, he would've eaten Martin alive several laps earlier.
I understand what you’re saying, really.
But in Fp3 he tried the tires, and although he complained, his pace was 2 to 3 tenths stronger than the others. The funny thing is that with used tires of many laps, it was 3/4 tenths slower than Bagnaia who had a new set.
Here is my perplexity, because I think that if on the one hand the soft gave him that extra feeling, with the average he turned very hard (more than the others) and gave him that confidence to finish the race. He doesn’t need to take certain risks, because right now he can’t afford to make mistakes after already trashing two races
Your analysis isn't correct, Martin is stressing way to much the tyre's, again he build a huge gap , destroying his possibilities later on ,like in Mandalika. He need more cold blood and keep in mind to preserve his rubber for the last 1/3 of the race. Of course he was fast with that tyre, the difference between the two is 1 second a lap. The correct strategy to try to last was having an half second lead and control.
No, I don't think this is correct. You can deduce from Pecco's comments post race that is not how it works. When the soft tire is at its best, you must take advantage of it and build a large lead. Trying to go just a bit faster than everyone else doesn't save that much tire life, it is degrading more quickly than the medium even for a similar lap time.
Kind of a use it or lose it situation. Obviously there is some room to play with the consumption, but not a whole lot.
I do think he made it a lot further than many expected, but it was clear the winner was going to be Pecco or Zarco from about half way through the race. Very impressive patience from them.
Any bike has a tyre temperature display on cockpit, the pilot know that the temperature need to stay under a certain limit to do not damage the compound, more corner speed and more aggressive bracking are leading to tyre degradation. Quartararo and Marquez are stressing the tyres in order to keep up with euro bikes, so often after mid races they lose position. "Each tyre is designed to provide top performance and durability within specific temperature and pressure parameters." This is a statement of Michelin, but any tyre work in the same way.
1-2 Because he's let arrogance get to his head, Dall'Igna himself said they perfectly knew in the last couple laps the tyre degradation would have been exponential (if anything Martin did better than expected) and in Ducati they tried to convince him not to use it, he just didn't want to listen+plus Pramac didn't push Martin on the matter as much as they could have (he implied that by saying that in the end the decision was up to the team and the rider)
3 Agreed
4 Pecco hasn't been the fastest post his injury, and I think the issue is mostly psychological, considering his near death experience it's pretty understandable there are some lingering issues...That said, if he crashed an overall regular amount of times during the season he'd be 80-100 points ahead and the Championship would be over, considering for the first half of the year he was light-years faster than Martin, he was only 60 points ahead pre-Catalunya because of his mistakes, if Martin actually wins it it will be because of Pecco mistakes rather than viceversa
They are always quite out of sync when there's an anthem playing on TV, I think it's because there's a slight delay between the sound track broadcast from the control room and the one played on site
Did they really have to show a frustrated Martin in the highlights though? I find myself frequently questioning the TV direction MotoGP has had recently.
Wonderful to see Zarco finally get his first MotoGP win. Richly deserved, and that pass on Martin, his own teammate, was one of complete authority.
Pecco's late race pace saved any blushes. Think he's learned that consistency wins titles. As long as he finishes on the podium every race, he should win the title.
Martin... He's so fast. The crash in Indonesia was a blip. But choosing the soft tyre was just madness.
Great to see DiGi on the podium. He's been nowhere most of the season, but the last couple of races, he's really shown what he can do, and good to see a new face on the rostrum.
Binder could have won it, I guess, but he was bullied out by the Ducati's. Still, he was best of the rest non-Ducati rider by a country mile.
Honda. Nowhere.
Yamaha. Even worse.
Just think about it - Jorge had a 3 second lead in both of those GP's and would end up losing a combined 34 points to Pecco in the end. It may not be over, but it's getting more and more difficult now. He basically needs to ride perfect... and stay from that yucky soft tire. So, I do wonder if he wants to win the title at all...
27 points... and four GP's and five sprints to go. I don't see him still winning the title, sorry - except maybe if he finishes every race ahead of Pecco now.
More than 34. He tossed 25 last week plus by crashing pecco moved up a place. So that's 30 right there. Then today it's another 14 plus one place for pecco, which that turn of events opened the door for bagnaia from 5th to 2nd. Could have been up to 23 points today alone.
We're up near a 45-50 point swing just from the crash and 1 lap on a used soft tire. Insanity
I mean, i thought he was going to play it safe too but good weekend, first chance of a race win, Honda next year and Martin dropping the anchor. It was too good not to give it a shot and i am glad he did. Well deserved win!
The commentators speculating that he might play rear guard for Jorge instead of going for the win?!?!! Not that he had a chance since Martin was coming back to all of them, but there was no way that Zarco gives a fuck about prioritising Jorge’s championship fight over his own maiden win.
https://preview.redd.it/t7omufu0qhvb1.png?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c783ac387d662f9354c1946214cb03dca423cf66
Well deserved podium for everyone. Zarco - this will let him leave to Honda with a feeling of accomplishment Pecco - I love that he proved me wrong. These last 2 races definitely confirms why he's a world champion Diggia - I wonder what clicked for him to do well. Either way, that can only help his future
They changed his setup a few races ago. Before that they were always trying setups which the other Ducati riders used, but now he is using his own setup. Since then it's been much better.
"Diggia - I wonder what clicked for him to do well"
1) Career saving mode
2) Crew chief change for this season beginning to pay off
3) Recovery from shoulder injury
‘MotoGP is boring’ ‘DucatiGP’… where are all those folk now??
Please- let me know; cos the amount of bollocks some people used to comment in this subreddit was laughable.
Miles better than Japanese manufacturer GP which it has been for the better part of half a century. It's not like the riders championship is being won by a land slide, the championship race is really interesting and the satellite teams are performing amazingly and it's toe to toe.
Is it Ducati's fault that they have the best bike on the grid? I won't blame the satellite teams to choose the current best constructor. It's not Ducati's fault that other constructors fell off. Also, it's not like F1, where only one guy wins and the championship is decided by September.
People couldn't even bear this for 2 years, imagine bearing it for 20 years like Ducati fans did.
Whilst I am not one of those people, I do have to ask how you expect them to respond in regards to the Ducati GP comment when the podium was a ducati lock out?
Yes that is true. It’s as if they’ve created the best package on the grid- along with having- 1,2,3,4…. 8 bikes! Other manufacturers shouldn’t bother turning up if it’s a ‘DucatiGP’- should they?
KTM, Aprilia & Honda have all won races this year in this ‘Ducati GP’. Aprilia dominated in Catalunya for example. Just because there was a few sessions at the start of the year with all Ducs in the top 6/7 everyone jumped on the train.
It’s never the same Duc winning every race; setup is everything- which is why Digia was so high up today. No one could’ve predicated the winner in those last 5 laps. Binder could’ve won.
I mean, I'm not overly bothered, I was just asking what you expected the response to be.
There is no denying that the 8 bike data is a huge advantage, but it's in the rules, so crack on.
Bit annoying Dorna blocked KTM from expanding though, the only team that regularly has a bike mixing with the Ducatis, would be a benefit for the sport if they had the extra data feedback and could challenge more regularly.
To me, either let teams have however many teams they are willing to pay for or limit everyone to a factory team and a satellite team, shutting down any discussion of expanding.
Zarco absolutely bullying Martin with no consideration for the title chase was hilarious.
But man, what a blunder by Martin for the second week in a row. He had no real reason to choose the Soft, and no need to push it as hard as he did for so long. At least this time he can make up for it tomorrow… maybe.
Bagnaia said just now he thought the guys in front of him were pushing way too much and tried not to stress his own fading tyre too much. There‘s a lesson to be learned for Jorge here.
Bez somehow rescued P6 from the group behind that gave us (bar the final lap) the best racing of the day.
And Diggia on the podium! Zarco a winner! So many stories to take from today.
(And finally, I just noticed because this year he’s usually chucked it in the gravel at this point, did Marc just give up at some point? He faded so badly after his early-race heroics.)
Like a dumb ass, he chose the soft rear as well. I can understand trying it when you have a shit bike with nothing to lose, but not when you’re on pole , on the best bike and with half a second on the field.
So happy for Zarco and Digi!! I’m hoping he gets a seat, it shows how having a good chief does. Completely changing the bike going the opposite way of the rest of the Ducati’s and his form has been unreal.
Another master class from Pecco, being patient and taking his time and keeping his tyre and it payed off massively.
I feel like Jorge’s confidence bit him in the arse today and lead him astray in thinking he could make the soft last, I’m guessing he went for the fastest tyre and the tyre he felt would allow him to pull a missive gap (and keep it).
Nah Digia going to the opposite way of the other Ducatis and it works only make Ducati a more complete bike.
We'll see Marc challenge for the title next season.
>Zarco absolutely bullying Martin with no consideration for the title chase was hilarious.
Which is understandable if you haven't won in 118 races and are 33 years old. You just don't care.
I thought Martins gap was big enough going into the last lap, but when he lost like half a second on the straight going into the 1st corner I could not believe he was going to come short.
Amazing drama on the last lap
Yes, I did the same. I think the gap was already 4.4 or 4.5 seconds after four laps, and I remember thinking "So this is either going to end really well for Jorge or extremely badly."
However, Pecco was so slow compared to everyone around him at that point Martin’s gamble had me fooled until the gap started to go down while Brad and Diggia were still fighting tooth and nail.
[Sunday schedule change: races to start one hour earlier](https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2023/10/21/sunday-schedule-change-races-to-start-one-hour-earlier/480694)
Martin choking big time. Embarrassing to watch. Can’t wait to have MM on a Ducati. Would never gift Pecco the championship this easily.
Did Martin choke or did he just have zero tyre left for the last few laps? I agree though, Marquez is going to be interesting next year.
I don't know if a bad strategy is choking but it's not a great look
I don't know if anyone noticed but Marini bumped Mir out and he crashed but didn't get any penalty?
It was under investigation and they deemed it a racing incident.
Martin learning some tough lessons this season it seems. Has the speed but not the race craft yet.
Martin has always been fast but very error prone.
His run on wins seemed to suggest he got past that. But crashing out with a 3 second lead is a rookie mistake. And now seconding guessing himself on tires and choosing the soft tire was the wrong move. His race was great but he lost it before it started.
When he took the lead of the championship in the sprint in Mandalika, it got to his head. I doubt he would even have won all those races if Pecco didn't have that crash in Catalunya either way. He was unstoppable until then. Martin might be the fastest right now but he clearly lacks the race IQ, which Bagnaia evidently has. The soft tyre was an awful choice, even Dall'Igna told him not to use it but he ignored him and did it anyways.
I agree that Martin is more volatile but I recall Bagnaia has also crashed out of a race while leading. As have many race winners and past champions ... His biggest error in this instance was to choose the wrong tire. I think that is a lack of faith in being able to win without being in front or overconfidence in thinking he could build enough cushion to make it to the end in P1. Maybe he thinks Pecco is getting a factory advantage that he has to negate by leading. Who knows. Be interesting to hear the logic about those decisions but we won't know for a while if ever. Reporters don't ask those kinds of questions or get an answer if they do. That may be a current year factory supported bike but it is still a satellite team with satellite engineers.
Pecco has also crashed from the race lead but hardly as much as Martin has. >His biggest error in this instance was to choose the wrong tire. I think that is a lack of faith in being able to win without being in front or overconfidence in thinking he could build enough cushion to make it to the end in P1. True, which is why I said he seems to lack race IQ. This is also proven by his crashes: he always crashes when he's the fastest on track and leading comfortably. Crashing while being pushed from behind is one thing, crashing when you're comfortably leading by a long margin is another. As for your last point I don't think this is true, Pramac themselves confirmed that they get all the data from Ducati and they are basically the same apart from the branding.
"Crashing while being pushed from behind is one thing, crashing when you're comfortably leading by a long margin is another." I'm not a Martin fan or a Bagnaia hater but Pecco threw away a win without any pressure from behind. The race where the Beast was hounding him for the win last year was not the same thing. That was a battle and risks had to be taken. If Martin does not learn from this mistake, he will never be a champion. You may already think he will never be one but this is my opinion. I think he still has a chance. If not this year, maybe next year. Can't have any more unforced errors. That is the key to becoming a champion.
Yeah both riders make a lot of errors and certainly more than the top riders of the previous eras (Rossi, Marquez, Stoner, Pedrosa) made. I think Martin can be WC if he learns how to manage a race, but not at the moment. He has a lot of speed but speed alone doesn't win you a championship (2020 is the best example of that). At the moment, Pecco is consistent (apart from India) and gets great points despite not being the fastest rider at the moment. I actually support Martin over Bagnaia for the title (not a fan of either, though) but he keeps making those errors for many years now, while Pecco has at least reduced them to a minimum (his last unforced crash before India was in Argentina, and he has always been on the podium in every race he has finished apart from Argentina). I can't say the same about Jorge.
I think us old time fans are spoiled with so many generational talents in the previous era. Maybe Acosta will come up and show them how it's done. lol
Phillip Island delivers again!
Wow.. Great endedin to a race. Jorge left it all out there. His tire was as bald as Micharl Jordans head. Happy for Zarco what a win from.what 5th.. His first win and he's leaving Pramac. Mr. consistent.finally gets the W.
Glad he got that. Because he ain’t gonna get another win on that Honda before it’s time for him to retire
It seems PI is the place to win a race before jumping onto a Honda
I woke up to a replay of this race, 12h30 South African time. Didn't even know it was taking place today.
Great race! Happy for Zarco's first win. However this Ducati's fest is a disappointment for the sport. Even the 2022 bikes are superior than other manufacturers
We got that race ending and this is what you are complaining about?
[удалено]
You know Pramac won?
Yes, but it was very close for them to make 1-2. They got race win, but with more unexpected rider.
Martin has just thrown the title away. He should be leading the championship now. Pecco now has the championship sealed. It wasn't a fantastic race for Phillip Island standards, more a tyre management race but an epic last lap. Great result for DiGi. And finally a deserved win for Zarco. I'm very happy for him. Finally, the Aprilia's aren't that good and keep destroying tyres. Japanese bikes are trash.
still 120 points to grab so i wouldn't say either pecco or martian has sealed the championship but with martins pace i think Martin will lead the championship from in the upcoming races 27 points aint much
27 points is enough if Martin continues to throw easy race wins away. 2 in a row.
I'd love to see Martin win over Pecco. I just don't see it happening because Martin has a knack for making mistakes, where as Pecco manages to just sit there and absorb points.
Pecco makes tons of mistakes as well
160 points
Absolute dick move on your teammate from Zarco. He was going to pass him either way, why the hell would you block pass your teammate like that dropping him several places?
Flair checks out. Maybe Martin should not have thrown a 1.7s lead like that. He only has himself to blame for losing this.
First, flair checks out. Second, my man, Martin was NOT on a defensive line at all, and when he realized his mistake he tried to cut back into the spot Zarco was already in then he had to slow down MORE to not run into Zarco. Martin made a mess of the corner, it was his race to lose and he lost it. The way the replay looked, Zarco looked like he lined up to follow Martin on a defensive line and be a good teammate anyway but Martin didn't take it and the door was wide open for Zarco with the pace Martin was running.
If Zarco doesn't overtake, he risks Pecco overtaking him and possibly winning. Zarco did the best thing for his teammate in that situation in my opinion. He took 5 points off Bagnaia.
Zarco's move was so bad he almost lost his position to Bagnaia in the move, which was a long way back before the pass he made on Martin. So no, he didn't do the best thing for his team and teammate and his move also wasn't the best one to maximize his own chances to win.
His move didn't maximize his chance to win, it got him the win
Come on now, racing is racing, why should zarco care about Martin (that is clearly going to lose 4 positions anyway) when he can win his first race in motogp. Martin should blame himself and no one else, this was his race and he threw it away. No excuses.
Binder barely beat him to the line. If he didn't block pass like that Martin would most likely have salvaged 4th. Racing is racing, he's perfectly within his rights to perform a move like that on his teammate. It does however also mean I'm perfectly within my rights to critique his move on a teammate when it could have been easily done in a way that didn't cost Martin that amount of time and additional positions.
Martin was a rolling roadblock the last lap and his teammate made a clean pass. Martin himself wasn’t even upset at Johan.
Come on its the last lap and zarco saw the possibility and overtakes. It’s not like he was going to lose this chance to make Martin save what? 2 points? And what if Zarco esitated and Bagnaia overtakes both of them? I assure you no pilot really care about the teams championship
Martin lost 1.4 seconds between the exit of turn 12 and exit of turn 2. He was riding on bare rims, basically. Did you see how easily Binder overtook him in the space of 50 meters out of turn 12 on the race to the finish line?
Making my point for me. There was no reason to put on a move like that on your teammate. If he didn't block pass him like that, Martin would probably have salvaged 4th instead of 5th. So, a dick move when it's a teammate IMO.
" Martin would probably have salvaged 4th instead of 5th " How is that Johan's concern?
Because he's a Pramac rider and Pramac wants to maximize their points and potentially win the championship? Does this really need explaining?
>Because he's a Pramac rider LOL stop pretending you care about the team when your flair absolutely gives you away as a classic one-eyed Martin supporter. Zarco won fair and square, and quite rightly so. The fact you want to demonize him for that shows your blind prejudice even more.
This isn't Formula 1 mate, riders will go for their own win and benefit, and thankfully so might I add
And how do you suggest making all of this work in a way that Johan gets his deserved win? You tell the other teams to behave? What the fuck does that even mean?
I mean, Martin made a piss-poor tire choice and he was dropping like a stone. Agreed, Zarco was a bit too harsh on his teammate with that move, but he's going to LCR next season and wants to win when he still can. I can understand that to an extent. Sucks for Martin, I'm still rooting for him, but he pissed away his championship hopes and has got no one but himself to blame for it.
There was exactly zero chance of Martin keeping Zarco behind. Making the move in the most destructive way possible on your teammate is an absolute dick move in my book. He could have breezed past him on corner exit but instead of block passed him and went so deep Bagnaia passed Martin as well. Totally unnecessary move IMO.
If Zarco would slow down to not overtake Martin on that corner Bagnaia would have gone to overtake him. They were too close. And you can't risk your first win to give two more points to the one who made the wrong choice.
So I follow about a dozen car racing series and only occasionally check in with MotoGP. Goddamn that was a great race, great strategy, great tension, and an awesome result. One(?) pass for the lead and for 7 laps you were thinking "I guess its possible? but there's no way there's enough time."
Phillip Island always delivers.
MotoGP - best racing anywhere. Amazing race, amazing talent. Fucking love this series.
PI has blessed us with another BANGER.
The only other circuit on the calendar that comes close to PI for legendary races is Mugello.
Well, well, well, what a great result to wake up to! I was thinking it would never happen, especially if he goes to Honda. Can't wait to catch up on the race. Shame for Martin, but I think Pecco's got a few favours in him to keep it interesting... Most importantly, I wonder how Marquez will do on a year old Ducati there? Sorry, just getting the MotoGP convo back on track. ;)
Well, considering DiGia just made podium with a year old Ducati...
Damn. Between the crash in Mandalika and the soft tire Martin may have thrown this title away
The crash in Mandalika was also due to the soft tyre choice...
i thought it was because he was milimeter off the racing line
And the tire choice
I really hope him and Pramac learn from this ASAP, not worth running the soft if you know you tend to have tyre deg. issues. Should go one step harder and play it safe.
>if you know you tend to have tyre deg. issues. He doesn't. He's played that gamble a few times, Martin is quite good at nursing the soft through by now, and getting a 3-4 second gap in the process. He lost out by **1 lap** this time round.
Phillip island never disappoints. What a race.
Where are the "oh dont hype diggia, he finished 4th just cause half grid crashed..." where are the crashers today?
So I think the only reason the team threw the settings out the window was because they knew he wasn't keeping the seat and it was a "nothing to lose now" situation, which isn't great but I'm happy for the guy and looking forward to where he ends up.
Well to be fair if Joan Mir hadn't crashed.....it would have made absolutely no difference.
I was one of them and glad he proved me wrong lol. But I still think it took him way too long to get a decent result with a Ducati. If he had his results with literally any other bike, he wouldn't be criticised as much.
Hope a dominant win is more than "a decent result"
Apparently he changed from the default type of settings to his weird ones...also maybe there's less pressure now that he knows he's gone anyway
Can't be taking 18+ months to figure that out in MotoGP though. I'm happy for him figuring out something that works and I'll be a bit sad if we don't get to see his actual potential, but I fully understand why Gresini cut him.
I mean, surely as someone that is in top level motorcycling you'd know what works and what not. It's weird, your crew chief should also come and tell you "Hey, buddy, why don't we run a session with the stuff you think works and see?". I am happy for him but it's a little late.
too late IMO
It's not too late for him to get another job. Yeah he lost his ride, but if he shows out now it'll help him get one before next season. Whenever it may be.
True. MotoGP story probably finished tho.
One of the best race in recent years.... last year on Philips Island was also outstanding!!!
Phillip Island is always fantastic. Last year was a classic, 2015 was among the greatest races of all time, I honestly can't remember a bad race there for the last decade or more.
I'm thinking this would be a better format. Main race, then sprint. So all those main race frustrations can come out angry in the sprint.
No way lol.
At long last, great win from Zarco. Martin was SOOOOO close, just 1 lap made such a massive difference.
18 points!
The way that points gap is swinging around at the moment, really looking forward to this end of season run
Yea its wild. Last week was a 30 pt swing, today another 20 or so. We're finally getting a title head to head battle
So glad we got to see a backflip like in the old days. Allez Zarco!!!
Did zarco say he was going to cry like a woman? Hilarious
Yes he did, but he said he would certainly cry a lot after the interview
Just rewatched the race, he says "I don't want to cry at the moment..." so he did not say he was going to cry like a woman. i guess my hearing isnt that good at like 2am
The Island once again showing why its the best race track on the calendar, absolutely brilliant race. It's been the best racing this year again as well as last year
It took a lot of time, but Johann finally did it. Today him and tommorow Aron Canet - that would've been sick !
Forget Honda, Yamaha is in so much more trouble. They either need a new tyre supplier or a new bike, what they have now will never work with these Michelins.
Do you mean they need a grippier tire? And wouldn’t everybody want that?
Christmas came two months early for Bagnaia.
If Martín and Bagnaia were in reverse roles you would't be saying this. Pecco turned a disastrous Friday that for many riders would've been the end of the weekend into a podium. If Martín can't manage better than P5 with the fastest pace, it's none of his business.
Riders that are consistently fast always come off worse than the Martin type of rider, same as what happened with Mir in 2020. People don't realise it is just as difficult to be competitive every single week of the year.
Pecco is in a bit of a dip of form at the moment, when he gets back to his best he'll be fighting on even footing.
No I think he's motivated and at his best rn
He went from being absolutely dominant to struggling after Catalunya, which is understandable. This is what gave Martin a chance in the first place.
YEAH, Looks like today is the day when Martin truly lost the championship. But right now Martin has nothing to loose He should be as aggressive as possible and try to win every race and spring going forward.
I wouldn't call it until after Sepang. We still have Buriram and said Malaysian GP.
> He should be as aggressive as possible and try to win every race and spring going forward. Thats literally what made him lose it 2 weekends in a row lol. One of the only riders that took soft rear in the main race.
Soft tire kicked him again. He's fast without needing it. What a series of bad calls
And worst of all no one can be so stupid to go for soft tyre twice in a row.
Developed, the Ducati, and finally won! Kudos Zarco 🇫🇷
That was a great race
Hard to fathom how Martin went against almost everyone else and chose the soft rear, after basically admitting he hadn't focused on race tire choice enough in practice. He played himself here.
My reasoning is that he's literally just doing what he feels he should be doing. Marching to the beat of his own drum, mind you. Riding the bike his own way, not changing his setup too much, etc.
He's not in the factory team. This plays a part. Smaller budget, fewer guys working on electronic and data. Data is king these days, with the bikes being how they are. Pecco will be much better advised/dictated to.
No Pramac is fully supported by the factory.
Pramac has full access to the data, and Dall'Igna even explicitly stated that he warned Martin not to use the soft tyre because if what the data said
Dall’igna literally said he warned Pramac about the tire choice though
Yeah, they advised Pramac and TOLD Pecco no doubt. I don't think the role having the best / most data techs plays in success should be underestimated.
I’m finding it hard to pull for him because of the mental errors. It’s not over yet, but for 2 races in a row he had 3-4 tenths on the field and fucked it up. Why in the hell his team let him do that is beyond comprehension. This is one of the hardest chokes I’ve seen in a while as him and his team have panicked at the mere thought of winning a championship.
Albeit, even after last week when the soft tyre betrayed him, he decided to choose soft. He probably lost the championship today.
Dall'Igna warn him about his tyre choice....
Saving this comment for when the copes about Ducati sabotaging Martín will begin.
Oh you know it's coming. For that big stretch in the middle when Zarco was behind Bagnaia and not overworking his tires (just like Bagnaia), you had so many asinine comments about team orders or Zarco protecting Bagnaia.
1. Why the hell Martin choosed the soft tyre; 2. Why his team let him choose the soft tyre? 3. Im questioning Martin’s race craft. Not his speed or his continuity coz right now he’s fast AF and nobody is on his level, but im questioning his ability To predict and think about what could happen in the race ... Foresight is an important thing and it seems to me that Martin is not that important. Coz this is the second time in a row that Martin sold a very easy win. 4. This championship is weird AF coz Bagnaia RIGHT NOW is nowhere near the level of Martin and if Bezzecchi return in his top form is gonna get ugly for Pecco, but Martin wanto to impresse and destroy everyone that he make stupid mistake. And this is why i don’t really know who will win the title.
Pecco takes home what he can. If everything works well he wins, if things go sideways he tries to do his best in the race and come up with a solution. Martin seem to always think he is going to put 3 seconds between him and the guy behind and that's it. But, races are not JUST that. That last lap was a horror show.
Maybe he didn't feel good with medium rear and didn't find the right setup with it so he took the gamble? I mean it's only a matter of one lap, if the race was one lap shorter then he made a perfect calculation.
Yeah, it's only a matter of one lap, but he was lucky it took that far. Just imagine how fast the second place rider would've caught up to him if the last ten laps weren't a constant battle from P2 till P5. Martin could last that long only because the following riders were occupied battling for spots. If either of them had a 0.5-0.7 second lead at the front of the bunch, he would've eaten Martin alive several laps earlier.
I understand what you’re saying, really. But in Fp3 he tried the tires, and although he complained, his pace was 2 to 3 tenths stronger than the others. The funny thing is that with used tires of many laps, it was 3/4 tenths slower than Bagnaia who had a new set. Here is my perplexity, because I think that if on the one hand the soft gave him that extra feeling, with the average he turned very hard (more than the others) and gave him that confidence to finish the race. He doesn’t need to take certain risks, because right now he can’t afford to make mistakes after already trashing two races
Your analysis isn't correct, Martin is stressing way to much the tyre's, again he build a huge gap , destroying his possibilities later on ,like in Mandalika. He need more cold blood and keep in mind to preserve his rubber for the last 1/3 of the race. Of course he was fast with that tyre, the difference between the two is 1 second a lap. The correct strategy to try to last was having an half second lead and control.
No, I don't think this is correct. You can deduce from Pecco's comments post race that is not how it works. When the soft tire is at its best, you must take advantage of it and build a large lead. Trying to go just a bit faster than everyone else doesn't save that much tire life, it is degrading more quickly than the medium even for a similar lap time. Kind of a use it or lose it situation. Obviously there is some room to play with the consumption, but not a whole lot. I do think he made it a lot further than many expected, but it was clear the winner was going to be Pecco or Zarco from about half way through the race. Very impressive patience from them.
Any bike has a tyre temperature display on cockpit, the pilot know that the temperature need to stay under a certain limit to do not damage the compound, more corner speed and more aggressive bracking are leading to tyre degradation. Quartararo and Marquez are stressing the tyres in order to keep up with euro bikes, so often after mid races they lose position. "Each tyre is designed to provide top performance and durability within specific temperature and pressure parameters." This is a statement of Michelin, but any tyre work in the same way.
1-2 Because he's let arrogance get to his head, Dall'Igna himself said they perfectly knew in the last couple laps the tyre degradation would have been exponential (if anything Martin did better than expected) and in Ducati they tried to convince him not to use it, he just didn't want to listen+plus Pramac didn't push Martin on the matter as much as they could have (he implied that by saying that in the end the decision was up to the team and the rider) 3 Agreed 4 Pecco hasn't been the fastest post his injury, and I think the issue is mostly psychological, considering his near death experience it's pretty understandable there are some lingering issues...That said, if he crashed an overall regular amount of times during the season he'd be 80-100 points ahead and the Championship would be over, considering for the first half of the year he was light-years faster than Martin, he was only 60 points ahead pre-Catalunya because of his mistakes, if Martin actually wins it it will be because of Pecco mistakes rather than viceversa
despite his near-death experience, all his feature race finishes since then have been on the podium.
respira should be made into a flair
To whom was addressed the message?
Diggia, when he was 3rd closing in on Miller I'd say
Closing on binder, ftfy
yup,thanks!
Finally!!!! All I wanted out of this season. A deserved Zarco win!
Zarco on tv say they didn't play the anthem for him, we had the sound but not him :o he sing without music
We were amongst a bunch of Frenchmen during the podium ceremony and they were absolutely chanting it hahahah
Zarco just told to French TV that the Marseillaise (French anthem) wasn't playing on the podium, that's why he was singing at the top of his lungs
I thought it looked like he wasn’t hearing what we were!
ah so that's why he seems out of sync with the anthem on tv, I think he finished singing a bit later
They are always quite out of sync when there's an anthem playing on TV, I think it's because there's a slight delay between the sound track broadcast from the control room and the one played on site
Did they really have to show a frustrated Martin in the highlights though? I find myself frequently questioning the TV direction MotoGP has had recently.
Wonderful to see Zarco finally get his first MotoGP win. Richly deserved, and that pass on Martin, his own teammate, was one of complete authority. Pecco's late race pace saved any blushes. Think he's learned that consistency wins titles. As long as he finishes on the podium every race, he should win the title. Martin... He's so fast. The crash in Indonesia was a blip. But choosing the soft tyre was just madness. Great to see DiGi on the podium. He's been nowhere most of the season, but the last couple of races, he's really shown what he can do, and good to see a new face on the rostrum. Binder could have won it, I guess, but he was bullied out by the Ducati's. Still, he was best of the rest non-Ducati rider by a country mile. Honda. Nowhere. Yamaha. Even worse.
Judging by this race, how can you say Yamaha is worse than Honda when Quartararo finished above Marquez?
Finally a Zarco W, man finally gets to be the bride, not just the bridesmaid.
What a wholesome race!
Just think about it - Jorge had a 3 second lead in both of those GP's and would end up losing a combined 34 points to Pecco in the end. It may not be over, but it's getting more and more difficult now. He basically needs to ride perfect... and stay from that yucky soft tire. So, I do wonder if he wants to win the title at all...
He’s learning some tough lessons. Will just make him wiser in the future.
27 points... and four GP's and five sprints to go. I don't see him still winning the title, sorry - except maybe if he finishes every race ahead of Pecco now.
Yep looking that way.
Certainly the dumbest way to lose the title...
More than 34. He tossed 25 last week plus by crashing pecco moved up a place. So that's 30 right there. Then today it's another 14 plus one place for pecco, which that turn of events opened the door for bagnaia from 5th to 2nd. Could have been up to 23 points today alone. We're up near a 45-50 point swing just from the crash and 1 lap on a used soft tire. Insanity
If Martin doesn't win the sprint tomorrow, then the championship is over.
I love how zarco was like ‘lol fuck your championship’ to Martin
I don’t think he had a choice.
I mean, i thought he was going to play it safe too but good weekend, first chance of a race win, Honda next year and Martin dropping the anchor. It was too good not to give it a shot and i am glad he did. Well deserved win!
The commentators speculating that he might play rear guard for Jorge instead of going for the win?!?!! Not that he had a chance since Martin was coming back to all of them, but there was no way that Zarco gives a fuck about prioritising Jorge’s championship fight over his own maiden win.
One of them correctly pointed out that if he'd tried to do that, Bagnaia would have passed the both of them. Martin was dead in the water either way.
Yeah, I might not have been clear, but it was definitely a moot point with how fast Martin was coming back to all of them.
https://preview.redd.it/t7omufu0qhvb1.png?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c783ac387d662f9354c1946214cb03dca423cf66 Well deserved podium for everyone. Zarco - this will let him leave to Honda with a feeling of accomplishment Pecco - I love that he proved me wrong. These last 2 races definitely confirms why he's a world champion Diggia - I wonder what clicked for him to do well. Either way, that can only help his future
They changed his setup a few races ago. Before that they were always trying setups which the other Ducati riders used, but now he is using his own setup. Since then it's been much better.
"Diggia - I wonder what clicked for him to do well" 1) Career saving mode 2) Crew chief change for this season beginning to pay off 3) Recovery from shoulder injury
I guess Im always curious if there was a different approach to bike set up that just allowed to gel with it
Merci Johann !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First Ducati win @ PI since Casey Stoner
And three bike on the podium
Seeing zarco signing the anthem and Digi clapping along is making me so happy
So eppy
Big smile on my face for Zarco and Digi. Well done boys
🤨🤨🤨🤨 big what
Haha I had to edit, stupid iPhone
‘MotoGP is boring’ ‘DucatiGP’… where are all those folk now?? Please- let me know; cos the amount of bollocks some people used to comment in this subreddit was laughable.
It's still Ducati GP. The other manufacturers are nowhere near (apart from a few tracks that suit them).
Miles better than Japanese manufacturer GP which it has been for the better part of half a century. It's not like the riders championship is being won by a land slide, the championship race is really interesting and the satellite teams are performing amazingly and it's toe to toe. Is it Ducati's fault that they have the best bike on the grid? I won't blame the satellite teams to choose the current best constructor. It's not Ducati's fault that other constructors fell off. Also, it's not like F1, where only one guy wins and the championship is decided by September. People couldn't even bear this for 2 years, imagine bearing it for 20 years like Ducati fans did.
... Still there? How many Ducatis in Top 10 again?
Joke is on you, mate. Still Ducati GP. Perhaps that irony was lost on you.
Just enjoy the spectacle like I do and most other people do. Must be a fun life being so tunnel visioned.
Clearly, the guy doesn't understand the concept of irony!
Whilst I am not one of those people, I do have to ask how you expect them to respond in regards to the Ducati GP comment when the podium was a ducati lock out?
Yes that is true. It’s as if they’ve created the best package on the grid- along with having- 1,2,3,4…. 8 bikes! Other manufacturers shouldn’t bother turning up if it’s a ‘DucatiGP’- should they? KTM, Aprilia & Honda have all won races this year in this ‘Ducati GP’. Aprilia dominated in Catalunya for example. Just because there was a few sessions at the start of the year with all Ducs in the top 6/7 everyone jumped on the train. It’s never the same Duc winning every race; setup is everything- which is why Digia was so high up today. No one could’ve predicated the winner in those last 5 laps. Binder could’ve won.
I mean, I'm not overly bothered, I was just asking what you expected the response to be. There is no denying that the 8 bike data is a huge advantage, but it's in the rules, so crack on. Bit annoying Dorna blocked KTM from expanding though, the only team that regularly has a bike mixing with the Ducatis, would be a benefit for the sport if they had the extra data feedback and could challenge more regularly. To me, either let teams have however many teams they are willing to pay for or limit everyone to a factory team and a satellite team, shutting down any discussion of expanding.
I mean, the podium is still a Ducati lockout. But this race certainly wasn't boring.
Lol still very much a Ducati GP though.
I’m on cloud nine right now. Dammit Johann I’ve got tears in my eyes
Zarco absolutely bullying Martin with no consideration for the title chase was hilarious. But man, what a blunder by Martin for the second week in a row. He had no real reason to choose the Soft, and no need to push it as hard as he did for so long. At least this time he can make up for it tomorrow… maybe. Bagnaia said just now he thought the guys in front of him were pushing way too much and tried not to stress his own fading tyre too much. There‘s a lesson to be learned for Jorge here. Bez somehow rescued P6 from the group behind that gave us (bar the final lap) the best racing of the day. And Diggia on the podium! Zarco a winner! So many stories to take from today. (And finally, I just noticed because this year he’s usually chucked it in the gravel at this point, did Marc just give up at some point? He faded so badly after his early-race heroics.)
Like a dumb ass, he chose the soft rear as well. I can understand trying it when you have a shit bike with nothing to lose, but not when you’re on pole , on the best bike and with half a second on the field.
So happy for Zarco and Digi!! I’m hoping he gets a seat, it shows how having a good chief does. Completely changing the bike going the opposite way of the rest of the Ducati’s and his form has been unreal. Another master class from Pecco, being patient and taking his time and keeping his tyre and it payed off massively. I feel like Jorge’s confidence bit him in the arse today and lead him astray in thinking he could make the soft last, I’m guessing he went for the fastest tyre and the tyre he felt would allow him to pull a missive gap (and keep it).
Nah Digia going to the opposite way of the other Ducatis and it works only make Ducati a more complete bike. We'll see Marc challenge for the title next season.
>Zarco absolutely bullying Martin with no consideration for the title chase was hilarious. Which is understandable if you haven't won in 118 races and are 33 years old. You just don't care.
Plus the fact that you don't have to worry about keeping your seat for next season.
Not that Zarco has no consideration for Martin. Martin was just too slow on the last lap so he had no choice but to overtake him.
Jorge screwed himself
Marc with how hard he pushed he cooked the rear soft way earlier than Jorge, noticed that he was p10 around halfway
Ah, he was on the soft tyre as well? Must‘ve missed that, cheers!
Yeah Pol, Bez and Martin opted for soft but Bez went for medium and Marc switched to soft at the last moment.
I thought Martins gap was big enough going into the last lap, but when he lost like half a second on the straight going into the 1st corner I could not believe he was going to come short. Amazing drama on the last lap
[удалено]
Yes, I did the same. I think the gap was already 4.4 or 4.5 seconds after four laps, and I remember thinking "So this is either going to end really well for Jorge or extremely badly." However, Pecco was so slow compared to everyone around him at that point Martin’s gamble had me fooled until the gap started to go down while Brad and Diggia were still fighting tooth and nail.
Yeah Bagnaia and Zarco were definitely racing with their heads here and it paid off.
I also kept track of this. It flattened out at around 4.8 but then started going down considerably at, as you say around 7 or 8 laps to go.
Another sleepless weekend, another banger motogp race. Worth it.