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There were those who celebrated in Portimao, twice because once was not enough for them. On the small podium on Saturday and on the big one on Sunday, where he also found his friend Bezzecchi. Bagnaia had nothing to prove, the number 1 had not been received as a gift, but anyone who still had doubts can now bury them in the box of useless objects.
For the one rider who was laughing, many were crying. Not so much for being defeated, but for crashing on a weekend that sent 3 riders to the hospital, and there could have been more. They wanted the show; they got this. Is the worth the risk?
THE GOOD – Tests, practice, qualifying, sprint or classic races, it does not matter. Pecco Bagnaia is always there. In perfect fusion with his Ducati, he just opens the throttle and they understand each other immediately, without the need for words. The times, the results, the points scored speak for themselves, all done with relative ease, controlling and managing. Like sipping a glass of frozen vinho verde in front of the ocean, but the taste is even better on the track.
THE BAD – Is there a show? Yes. The sprint race was an orgy of overtaking, paint-swapping, crashes; only banana skins are missing on the track to transform it into a sort of video game. Too bad the riders are not virtual beings, but very real with many bones that can break and some have already found out the hard way. It was no surprise as all you needed to do was take an inadvertent look at the new race schedule to play at being Cassandra.
THE UGLY – Pol Espargarò, Enea Bastianini, Marc Marquez, three out of 22 riders are already in the infirmary and they will watch the GP of Argentina on TV. The bulletin could have been even worse, with Oliveira risking big, and it's only the first weekend… If they wanted to transform the MotoGP into a knock-out contest, then the goal has been achieved.
THE DISAPPOINTMENT – New year, old problems. Change everything to change nothing; the phrase from The Leopard seems written for Yamaha. Quartararo wanders around in mid-field with blunt weapons; Morbidelli continues to sink. After the first GP, the riders seem to have already given up.
THE CONFIRMATION – Not only at Borgo Panigale do they know how to make motorbikes, they don’t do too badly either at Noale. On a bad weekend for Aleix Espargarò, Aprilia can enjoy the performance of Maverick Vinales. But above all Oliveira, who only bad luck prevented from standing out all the way. Miguel demonstrated that the RS-GP is for everyone and it wasn’t something to be taken for granted.
THE MISTAKE - It would be obvious to carve Marc Marquez's name, but there has been a lot of talk about him and there are those who managed to do worse, without even the extenuating factor of a competitive trance. The FIM Stewards rightly decided to give the Spaniard a couple of long lap penalties. When? At the ‘next race’ would have been the correct wording, but as they are ‘by-the-book suits’ they wrote the GP of Argentina, including the title sponsor just to be more clear. Too bad Marquez won't be in that race. And so what? Scripta manent… signed by Freddie Spencer.
THE SURPRISE – He cut his beard, he chose the right engine and was a transformed man. Samson the other way round, Jack Miller was all fire and brimstone on the KTM, after a winter in which his results were so opaque as to make him invisible. As soon as he felt the thrill of the GP he gave his best, we await him with curiosity in Argentina.
THE PASS - Since there is so much talk of sprint racing, Johann Zarco interpreted it in his own way. In the background for 24 laps, he moved up from 8th to 4th place at the end. He didn't get on the podium, but the award for best 'overtaker' belongs to him.
THE ANECDOTE - Our very own Paolo Scalera reminded us that riders on a float for a lap of the track had already been done at Silverstone in the late 1970s. The fact that it took more than 40 years to find the courage to do it again must have cast doubts on the legitimacy of the idea. It would be easy to make fun of the parade, but the melancholy of having seen it hasn't left us yet.
I TOLD YOU SO – “The sprint race will bring more fans on Saturday”. Judging by the grandstands, the answer would appear to be a resounding no...
