In Qatar, Yamaha was the winner, showing that even on tracks with a very long straight, brutal strength isn’t enough to outperform agility. In fact, at the top speeds of the weekend with Ducati at the top, the M1 was always far from the top positions and even broke the record for the fastest motorcycle in the premier class with Johann Zarcos 362.4 km / h. As mentioned earlier, however, you don’t just win with the engine, even if the speed comparison is certainly very timely given the balance that seems to have prevailed in MotoGP lately. The following table shows the top speeds that the top nine drivers on the checkered flag achieved over the weekend.
The analysis shows how Everyone (or almost everyone) loses kilometers per hour in the raceand that should come as no surprise: the tires are less powerful, The tank is full, but above all yesterday’s wind (which was blowing in the opposite direction from the one on the straight) played a fundamental role. However, that means there is an incredible difference between that 14.1 km / h Zarco lost in FP4 (session where he recorded his record speed) and Vinales’ 4.4 km / h. Probably too many to be caused by the factors listed above. All Ducatis have lost many: 8 km / h Bagnaia and 7 km / h Jack Miller. You wonder if the Borgo Panigale technicians turned off the tap to keep the bike running, decisive and always challenging on a route like Losail. But the Desmosedici engine was still among the most brilliant, at least when compared to Yamaha and Suzuki, to pass the sprint podium to Bagnaia and Zarco.
Another interesting fact is what you see highlighted in green in our table: Pol Espargarò was the only one of the top nine to gain speed in the race and when the discussion was extended to the entire MotoGP grid, only one other rider was successful: his team-mate Stefan Bradl. Honda is therefore confirmed as the motorcycle that is less affected by gusts of wind, as Pecco Bagnaia emphasized on Saturday.