So where were we? After five weeks, the memory needs to be refreshed, but a quick look at the World Cup standings is enough for the memories to reappear. The holidays are over and on Friday the MotoGP riders will be back on track for the first of two consecutive GPs in Austria, the beginning of the last part of the 2021 season in which only one rider has dominated so far, and that is Fabio Quartararo.
It goes without saying that he is the man to beat, the Frenchman has won 4 of the first 9 races and the record could have been even better without any problems with his arm in Jerez and his leathers in Spain. Fabio was not only fast but also very consistent and in fact he is the only driver who has crossed the finish line at every Grand Prix. In other words, he’s a pretty difficult customer for all of his opponents. The plural is a must in this case because halfway you can’t say that there is a real opponent for the Yamaha rider.
If we look at the tables we find Zarco 34 points behind, Bagnaia 47 and Mir 55, but three drivers who did not manage to take a single win. One point further down (-56) is Miller, who has won two races, then Vinales with -61 and Oliveira with another 10 points behind. This is where we have to stop, because the heart could also put Marquez among the candidates in question, but the brain is preventing it at the moment.
So let’s get back to the Red Bull Ring, a track designed for Ducati and KTM, not so much for Yamaha, which definitely won’t do that bad on these straights if Quartararo took a podium in 2019. Definitely for Fabio, it could be two weekends of (relative) suffering and for the red bikes an opportunity not to be missed if they want to keep dreaming of winning the world championship. Because mathematics, as we have seen, is on the French side and someone now has to drastically reduce their advantage.
At Borgo Panigale they have at least three drivers who can win (Pecco, Jack and Johann) and they have to do it, maybe even by monopolizing the podium, and at that point the face of the championship could really change. Even KTM and Honda could help, not to mention the fact that Vinales is now a loner and has a hard time thinking about team assignments. The real problem is that with ‘ifs’ you will never win the world championship, so you have to switch from theory to practice and here the Austrian double-headed player takes on a completely different aspect. It’s no longer a battle with Quartararo, but internally within Ducati to see who becomes brand and team leader.
On paper, it could be anyone. Bagnaia is constantly improving and if we ignore the mistake at Mugello he has even made it on tracks where the Desmosedici normally struggle. Miller is the only one who managed to win, but he’s still looking for consistency, something Zarco has never been short of and in fact the Frenchman is the best-placed overall. In other words, all three have shown strengths and weaknesses and now it is time to eliminate the latter, just as Quartararo did.
Continuing with the ups and downs would just mean playing Fabio’s game, so in a couple of weeks we need to find out who the red hunter who chases the blue rabbit is. Provided Ducati manages to maintain its lead at the Red Bull Ring, a question that (as we learned in Qatar) only the track can answer …