If anyone at Yamaha had a script to which they were working to this season, they obviously forgot to tell their rival teams. Or maybe the rival teams had a script but forgot to tell Yamaha about the last-minute changes.
What does Fabio Quartararo have to do to win the championship this year? Well, winning a race might be a good idea. Or finishing in the points? Both are good ideas. But, don’t forget, Bagnaia has crashed out of five races so far this year and yet there he sits, an insignificant two points off the top of the table after being 90 points adrift not that long ago.
Even Jack Miller has catapulted himself into contention with 45 points from the last two races. OK, so it’s a mathematical chance, one that would take huge levels of ill fortune for Bagnaia, Quartararo and Espargaro to come to fruition but, if there’s one thing that this season has taught us, it’s to expect the unexpected and take nothing for granted.
Ducati could still shoot themselves in the foot by not imposing team orders. Jack Miller was fighting for the win against Miguel Oliveira but, once that was over on the last lap, could he not have moved over to let Bagnaia through and gain some more important points? It would have stuck in Miller’s throat, for sure, especially with that mathematical chance, but he’s a team player and would probably have done it if he was asked, his departure from the team at the end of the season notwithstanding.
Instead, we had the sight of a blisteringly fast Zarco closing relentlessly on the leading four – Oliveira, Miller, Bagnaia and Marquez. He despatched Marquez with ease but then noticeably refrained from inflicting the same wounds on Bagnaia. This was just what Pecco needed: a buffer keeping Marquez at bay but one who wasn’t going to take points away from him.
Zarco was clearly playing the team game. Had he been asked by his team to leave Bagnaia alone? We’ll probably never know but what we do know is that Zarco has a debt owing to Ducati for facilitating the ride with the Pramac team when his career looked as if it was on the skids a couple of years ago. His keeping station behind the championship hopefully will have done his future prospects no harm whatsoever which is a good thing: Zarco deserves to win at least one race and, the longer he’s on the grid, the more likely that it will happen.
It is, of course, not just Bagnaia that Quartararo is up against: not just Bagnaia, but all other seven Ducati riders on the grid who will, you have to think, be told to help Bagnaia sooner rather than later.
Naturally, Bagnaia has to be in a position to help himself as well: it’s no use expecting seven Ducatis riding in front of you – if you’re having a bad race – to move over and let you past just so you can get the points: Bagnaia will have to win this on merit.
And it is the merit that got him onto the podium in Thailand. Remember the week before, in Japan? Bagnaia was nowhere and then crashed out. It’s no secret he doesn’t like the rain and who can blame him? If that is the case, then his ride in Thailand was one of the rides of the season and it could be pivotal for both Quartararo and Bagnaia, in terms of points won and not won. Mind you, you could say that about any race throughout this season.
A couple of weeks’ break and then we’re off to that king of tracks, Philip Island. Is it a Ducati track? Is it a Yamaha track? Can Quartararo pull himself out of his emotional slump (if, indeed, he is in one: you’d have to be some sort of superman to not be feeling down about the last two months’ racing and results but, then, that’s exactly what these guys are) and prevail against the Ducati army all on his own?
For that is what he’s been doing all season. Should Quartararo win the title in 2022, he will have done it all by himself. So has Bagnaia, if you want to be precise, but you have to think that he will be getting help from his teammate or the other Ducati riders in the last three rounds if he needs it. With no disrespect to Morbidelli, Quartararo is on his own for this one.
It’s by no means a foregone conclusion and it is likely that the title will go down to the last round in Valencia, which is exactly as it should be.
Philip Island. The MotoGP circus hasn’t been to Australia since 2019 and, in that time, aero add-ons have become ever more important. The wind can be punishingly strong on the island so how will the bikes cope? A track full of balls-out corners and all of them need full commitment from the rider and a bike that works properly. The Yamaha has traditionally been that bike but now, the Ducati GP22 is also that bike: good at any circuit in any conditions.
Let the best rider win!
