They had him on the ropes, reeling and waiting for the knockout blow, but it never came. Instead, Quartararo’s closest rivals for the 2022 title, Bagnaia and Espargaro, let him off with a light slap. If Quartararo had managed to finish any higher than eighth, there wouldn’t be any contact between hand and face at all.
Espargaro blinked first, his Aprilia’s electronics having not been set properly on the grid. The bike was left in a special fuel-saving ‘Eco’ mode, normally used solely for getting from the pits to the grid. Espargaro’s frustration was laid bare as he trundled back to the pits at no more than 100km/h to swap bikes, desperately trying to get there before the flag fell. Starting from the exit of pit lane is one thing, but to still be riding down pit lane when the lights go out is doubly galling.
This was to be no Assen-like meteoric recovery ride: 16th at the flag was all he could achieve, despite riding at the race leader’s pace. Not a single point after qualifying so well in sixth. Not only that, but the Aprilia was completely new to the Motegi track: the last time they raced there, it was the old Aprilia with the 75° V-four. The current 90° V-four is a completely different beast and two seconds a lap faster than the old bike, while other bikes had only gained one second in three years away.
Given all that, a podium was absolutely on the cards. Maybe he couldn’t have beaten Miller but a second place would have left him but five points behind Quartararo. Of such mistakes are championships lost. It wasn’t his only handicap, however:
“I changed bikes in the pits but the second bike had the soft rear tyre and I can’t ride with that tyre, the bike was pushing the front everywhere. I was also nervous and made a lot of mistakes. It was a huge mistake but we are humans, we’re a team and I will try to win in Thailand.”
It was hardly any better for Bagnaia, who qualified an uncharacteristically lacklustre twelfth. During the race, he messed around at the blunt end of the top ten, always behind Quartararo but never able to get past. Desperation seemed to be setting in, even though finishing behind Quartararo would lose him only a couple of points to the championship leader.
On the last lap, it happened: Bagnaia tucked the front when trying a late lunge up the inside of Quartararo and it was a miracle that he missed the Yamaha as he slid to the outside of the track and into retirement.
He really didn’t need to try and make the pass, but he’s a racer: what would you expect him to do? But for the whole race, he was suffering from front tyre temperature.
“My front pressure was very, very, very high, so I was struggling to stop the bike,” he said. “This was one of the first times this year I was in a big group, so we weren’t prepared for that.
“One point can make a difference, so I was trying to do it,” he explained. “I was too ambitious – finishing behind Fabio or waiting for a safer opportunity to overtake would’ve been better, but I’m trying to win the championship.”
Ironically, the front tyre temperature issue is of Ducati’s own making: after all, it was they who introduced aero technology to MotoGP, the same aero that disturbs airflow behind the bike so much that the following bike is riding in lots of heat coming off the bike in front and also affects braking performance, putting further stress on the front tyre.
Bagnaia was undone not only by the rain-truncated practice sessions, which left him too little time to set the bike up but also by the horde of hungry Ducati riders all around him on track. There are still no team orders from Ducati and this could be Bagnaia’s undoing as none of the young guns are under any obligation to leave him alone or make his life easy. When will Ducati do something about this? After it’s too late for the championship? Three consecutive manufacturer’s titles are one thing, but it’s the rider’s championship that everyone remembers.
It’s not a complete disaster for the title top three: Bagnaia’s deficit has gone from 10 points to 18 and Espargaro’s from 17 points to 25 but it could have all been so different. This was one of the tracks that were meant to suit the Ducatis and, indeed, it did, with Miller taking a dominant and untroubled victory. No one will begrudge him the victory but this was meant to be the race that cemented Bagnaia’s challenge: not delivering the knock-out blow to Quartararo but getting in another punch before the circus heads to a more Yamaha-friendly track.
As it was, Quartararo was let off the hook by both his title rivals but still didn’t capitalise as much as he could have done. Eight points should have been, perhaps, 20 for second place (no one was beating Miller) but if Bagnaia wasn’t getting past Quartararo, then Quartararo wasn’t getting past anyone, either.
It wasn’t a vintage race but, by the same token, it wasn’t unexciting, especially with Brad Binder running in a podium position for the majority of the race. Second place was a brilliant reward for a gutsy ride on a rear tyre (hard) that he hadn’t tried the whole weekend. The gamble paid off and reinforced what Aleix Espargaro said after the Aragon round last weekend: that Binder on the KTM is one of the best riders on the grid at the moment.
After his pole position, much was expected of Marc Marquez, although there were doubts about his ability to last a whole race with his compromised fitness. However, even though he dropped out of the top three right from the get-go, he ran consistently in the top five and finished an impressive fourth, after a penultimate-lap overtake on Oliveira. The smile on his face as he sat back in his pit box will be worrying for the rest of the grid: Marquez is back and I for one will not be betting against him taking a win before the season is out.
But what of Miller? What a sublime demonstration of pace: completely demoralising for everyone behind him and yet there would be not one begrudging voice in the paddock afterwards, such is the measure of affection everyone feels for him. For once the luck was with Miller and he ended his 18-month victory drought in fine style.
“Congrats to Jack, he was on another level today,” stated future team-mate Brad Binder. “When he passed me, he literally disappeared in about three or four laps. I could see he was on a roll and knowing Jack I thought he’d have the hard tyre too. By about Lap 10, I knew we weren’t gonna see him again. Hats off to Jack and it’s gonna be awesome having him on the team next year.”
My guess is that Miller will be formidable on the KTM next year. As long as he’s not too formidable and beats Binder!
