Pecco Bagnaia has won 48 points from Fabio Quartararo in the last three races and an intense and uneven duel between the two is expected in the second half of the season.
It has always been said that in motorcycling, the rider matters more than the mechanics. A phrase that has been used in opposition to Formula 1, but has recently been questioned more than once. In his last year, Valentino Rossi complained that the human component was less and less in the championship, due to the technological and especially aerodynamic development of MotoGP. In that sense, Ducati has been at the forefront of motorcycling for years now. He has won the last two constructors’ titles and is on his way to third in 2022 by crushing (96 points ahead of Yamaha). However, the larger game piece resists him. A driver’s title that the Italian factory has only won once in its history, in 2007 with the unrepeatable Casey Stoner.
It won’t look much different in 2022. Pecco Bagnaia’s intermittent first half of the season (four outs and fourteenth in the first ten Grands Prix) has left him no margin of error for the remainder of the season. He still has 44 points to come back. It may seem like a world, but just three races ago he was 91 behind Quartararo. Three consecutive wins for the Turin rider have brought him back into the fight and the Frenchman does not hesitate to point him out as his biggest rival, despite the fact that Aleix Espargaró is still second with 32 points behind.
What worries Quartararo most is the superiority of the Ducati, not only in speed, but also in number. There are eight Ducatis to four Yamahas on the current grid, and at least five, if not more, are regularly among the best. That could be seen in Austria last weekend, when the drivers of the Italian factory took four of the five first positions. Only the brilliant Fabio Quartararo intervened in second, who became a sort of David against Goliath on the Austrian track. The Frenchman was okay with losing just five points to his rival, bearing in mind that he had to overtake the Ducati of Jack Miller and Jorge Martín in the closing laps.
After the race in Austria, Aleix Espargaró had no qualms telling the media that Fabio Quartararo was the best rider on the current MotoGP grid (although he didn’t say that, he would have to qualify due to Marc Márquez’s absence) . The Frenchman welcomed his friend’s compliment. “It’s a nice compliment from Aleix, but I don’t like to say who is the best. I don’t want to be vain.” And he left an interesting reflection below. “Right now the Ducati are very strong, but you also have to have the right rider on the right bike.”
Another trite expression often used in the paddock is that the real level of a bike is given to you by the second rider. A look at the general classification puts five Ducati in the top 10, six of which have achieved at least one podium finish. There’s no denying that this is a very complete bike, and that it’s not built for any particular riding style, but it’s suitable for everyone. In the case of the Aprilia (Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Vinales) or the Suzuki (Álex Rins and Joan Mir), you also see the balance between the two teammates, so you can guess the level of that MotoGP. But the case of Yamaha is really peculiar and even bloody. While Quartararo is the World Championship leader with 200 points, his teammate, Franco Morbidelli, is in nineteenth with 26. And the other two satellite Yamahas (Andrea Dovizioso and Darryn Binder) are in twenty-first and twenty-second positions, respectively. What would the Japanese brand be without its single reference?
Single-rider bikes have been seen in the past. Stoner’s case with the Ducati a little over a decade ago was paradigmatic. And more recently it happened to Honda with Márquez. In all cases, these are innate talents, special riders who can probably go fast on any bike. It’s a blessing for a brand to have this type of athlete, but at the same time it can become a double-edged sword. Honda’s journey into the desert since Márquez was injured is a good reflection of that. Yamaha has decided to entrust everything to its star, who is currently enduring the onslaught of a much superior Ducati and an inspired Pecco Bagnaia. Fortunately for them, the rider continues to make the difference in MotoGP. And the best in 2022 is called Fabio Quartararo.
Source: La Verdad
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