For the participants of the MotoGP World Championship 2021, school is over for the summer and offers the opportunity to go to bed without an alarm clock, bake a little in the sun and meet with loved ones …
Of course, when we say we’re actually training hard for a few weeks, count the hours until the next time they’re on the track and catch up with the engineers to cut those precious thousandths of a second when racing resumes .
With nine failed races and (maybe) ten to go, the 22 drivers look back on the first half of the year with varying degrees of satisfaction and contempt.
On the subject of matching items
In fact, it’s fair to say that there have been some clear winners and losers from MotoGP 2021 Part I, with those classified in the latter undoubtedly desperately trying to reverse that for the sequel
But who’s going to try to keep their shape and get that all Rocky Balboa on their “Vaykay”?
Winner – Fabio Quartararo
At the end of the 2020 MotoGP season, it was difficult to say whether Fabio Quartararo should be classified as a winner or a loser.
A three-time race winner in only his second season on a (admittedly well-funded) privateer Yamaha should have seen him hailed for the talent he is evident. But he also let a comfortable lead slip by, was riddled with errors towards the end of the year and was finally shown by a team-mate on older machines.
To say Quartararo recovered in 2021 would be an understatement, however, not least because the only factor that made people question whether Yamaha picked the right rider to replace Valentino Rossi on the factory team – his consistency – exactly the reason is why he set out on summer armed with a 34 point pillow.
Indeed, Quartararo’s form collapsed in 2020 as doubts crept into his head and mistakes crept into his game, understandable given his experience and age, but still a daunting demon to overcome when you step in as Rossi’s replacement in to follow in the greatest possible footsteps.
And yet we hardly saw a mistake from Quartararo this year. His dazzling single lap speed remains exceptional (he started first or second in eight of the nine races), but he backs this up with his win at Mugello, where Yamaha often gasps. a clear highlight.
He is the only driver who has finished every race within the points and even in moments when circumstances have conspired against him – arm pumps in Jerez, rain in Le Mans, open leather in Barcelona – he has kept the sunny side up and the dots ticked.
Time will tell if the demons will reappear at the end of the season, but let’s just say it’s very easy to forget that a little over two years ago he was a little-known figure with just one Moto2 win and only picked to win when Dani Pedrosa refused the ride …
Loser – Honda
Honda suffered quite a fall in 2020 after Marc Marquez ‘particularly inconvenient injury break, but the hangover will last until 2021.
Marquez has of course returned and even made it onto the top of the podium at the Sachsenring, which – injured or not – was a really impressive achievement given the apparently compromising equipment below him.
Regardless of whether it is ultimately in Honda’s best interests to let Marquez develop the RC213V, his injury showed a lack of direction in his absence.
As a result, there have been phases this year when Honda has had four riders on three machines with different specifications, while it is arguably no coincidence that Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Alex Marquez top the list of accidents in 2021.
Time will tell if Marquez’s injury tarnishes his shape for years to come, but Honda’s scatterplot shape across the board shows that the problems there are more fundamental than initially feared.
Winner – Ducati
There was a point in 2020 when Ducati looked like it was wiping the egg off its face after Andrea Dovizioso called his bluff over contract negotiations after he was already one of the (many) big names he was targeting for 2021 had not caught.
As such, it was “forced” to commit to a factory pairing of Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia. In reality, Ducati seemed to be the only party that didn’t see the benefit of giving two hungry riders a chance it had developed, rather than another commitment that had to take root on the very “special” Desmo.
Appropriately, both drivers took on the challenge, but while “Teamleader” Miller made two podiums in 2021, Bagnaia looks set to stand out.
Although he doesn’t have to win a race yet and there are rough edges that reveal his relative inexperience – especially in qualifying – he is probably the only driver on race day who can take on Quartararo.
If it weren’t for his sloppy fall from the lead in Mugello – a race in which all the stars were aiming for a famous victory – he would be right behind Quartararo and probably even more.
Kudos, however, go to Ducati for developing the tricky GP20 into a more armed GP21 that now seems to handle as well as it shoots in a straight line.
Loser – Suzuki
It’s a bit tough to call Suzuki a “loser” but after its incredible and surprising 2020 title win, it appears to be paying for a conservative approach to development on its defense.
While the GSX-RR doesn’t seem like a slower machine, its competitors’ gains have helped dampen their strengths while highlighting their weaknesses.
Defending champions Joan Mir has a stronger season than his low profile might suggest, the Spaniard is still with a reputation for back-to-back titles through some persistent promotions in order that have earned him three podiums.
However, drivers are again paralyzed by Suzuki’s inability to generate heat in the tires, with their qualifying average being even lower than it was in 2020 when Mir won the title from ninth on the grid.
As for Alex Rins, the Spaniard started the year knowing he had the pace to keep up with his title-winning team-mate, but he has stained his book with a number of accidents that have damaged his reputation. Excellent in its time, but the opposite of me when it comes to cast iron consistency.
Winner – Johann Zarco
The Frenchman, who never shies away from showing his feelings after getting to know a pouting Johann Zarco very well in 2019, followed by a smiling one in 2020, has not stopped smiling in 2021 either.
To say he has revived his MotoGP career since joining Ducati may be an exaggeration, but Zarco should be respected for playing the long game and successfully making his dramatic change of course as he left KTM and switched to Avinita accepted.
On the latest Pramac Ducati, Zarco reminds everyone why he’s a two-time Moto2 world champion. His ability to both increase speed in qualifying and stretch his tires in races helped establish him as a solid anchor for Ducati’s title fight.
While he may be missing the last 5% to secure the long-awaited first win for himself and Pramac Racing, it is clear what Johann Zarco can do when he’s a Heureux French.