Buriram Sprint read through numbers: all is not what it seems

It was a boring race, I repeat: I don't like the Sprint. In addition to taking away the expectations regarding the Grand Prix, it's a race of three, four laps, the first ones. Then you check and the result is a train. This without mentioning the fact that the pole position, which was once one of the most exciting aspects of the Grand Prix, is completely sunk without trace.

I'm not a numbers man, but even if it's true that numbers aren't everything, it does allow us to make some considerations on the evolution of this MotoGP.

In short, the Sprint of the opening round of the 2025 world championship was slower than the one won by Bastianini in 2024: Enea finished in 19'46.675 against Marc's 19'50.458. Then the climate may have had its influence, or maybe even the fact that the Spaniard controlled the situation, but the gap between the first and the second - Bestia/Martin against Marquez/Marquez was respectively 1.357 in 2024 and 1.185 today.

The fastest lap was also better last year: Martin 1'29.554, against Marquez's 1'29.911.

Bagnaia finished 3rd in 2024 and 3rd today. Times: 19'33.503 then, 19'38.428 today. Five seconds more.

Marquez, on the contrary, finished 4th in 19'36.533, today he won in 19'35.005.

His brother Alex also improved: 5th in 2024 in 19'41.271, today 2nd in 19'36.190.

Morbidelli also improved: he finished 6th in 19'42.218, today in 19'40.795. Curious.

Obviously Ducati rejoices with four Rosse in the top five, but in 2024 there were eight!

Honda situation: the first Honda was Zarco's in 12th in 2024 in 19'49.675, today Zarco was 10th in 19'51.214. It seemed to me that the Frenchman had a problem at the end.
Mir was 13th in 19'50.396, today 10th in 19'50.458. Let's have a look at the distances from the first classified: in 2024 the LCR rider picked up a gap of 18.544, today 16.209; Mir also took a step forward: 19.256 in 2024, 15.453 today. A decisive step forward.

Yamaha, in this sense, was 10th with Quartararo at 14.483 from the top, today Fabio finished 7th at 13.437.

So both Honda and Yamaha did better in a substantially slower race.

The pace of the best KTM: Acosta did not finish in 2024, but if we compare the gap of the best KTM of 2024, Binder, we see that he finished 9th at 13.692, while today Pedro had a gap of 11.700.

Some final considerations: Yamaha and Honda have obviously improved thanks to the concessions, more than Ducati. Although my impression is that the Sprint lasted three laps and they did not push 100% in front. In the end none of the three had any reason to risk beyond the limit.

KTM: also improved, but the comparison is not fair.

Aprilia: the bike goes well, in the hands of a rookie like Ogura it finished in fourth position. Martin, at home, must be kicking himself.

Photo: © @PierlucaBrunetti