MotoGP: Oliveira takes first win of 2021 in Barcelona

Round seven of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship, the Catalan Grand Prix, took place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Fabio Quartararo started from pole position for the fifth race in succession. 

The front holeshot device once again worked perfectly for Quartararo, who made an excellent start. But, like in Mugello, the run to the first corner was long enough for the Ducati alongside him – this time that of Jack Miller – to out-drag him to the first braking zone. 

In his efforts to out-brake Miller, Quartararo ran slightly wide in turn one, which also allowed Miguel Oliveira into second place. Quartararo had the pace to break away, but now he had two bikes in his way. 

Miller led the opening lap, but Oliveira was past at turn five on the second tour, and the Portuguese was able to escape to the tune of one second by lap six. That was when Miller made a mistake, and lost out to Joan Mir – who had made an excellent start from the fourth row to be in the podium positions early on – and Fabio Quartararo. One lap later, and the Yamaha rider passed that of Suzuki, and set about closing the now 1.2-second deficit to Oliveira. 

It was a successful effort from the Frenchman, who had cut the gap to 0.5 seconds by lap nine, and three laps later at turn five the #20 hit the front. Oliveira was unable to stay close enough to respond in the straight on lap 13, but on lap 14 he had closed the gap, and at turn one he took the lead back. 

Quartararo was able to then stay with Oliveira, and the pair pulled away from the two behind, who were now Johann Zarco and Jack Miller, the Frenchman having worked his way up from the lower end of the top 10 to now be fighting for the podium.

With four laps to go, it looked certain that Quartararo and Oliveira would be fighting until the end for the win, but one lap later Quartararo seemed to have run out of grip, and he was passed by Zarco in turn one. When Zarco made his move, Quartararo ran wide, over the chicane, and, on the last lap, he would be given a penalty for this. Earlier in the race Takaaki Nakagami had received a long lap penalty for the same thing, but since it wasn’t until the last lap that Quartararo’s penalty was handed out, he got the standard three-second time penalty that substitutes a long lap. 

Despite suffering a deficit of almost one second at the point where he passed Quartararo, Zarco was putting Oliveira under pressure for the win with two laps to go. The Portuguese was able to hold off the Frenchman, though, and took his and KTM’s first win of 2021. It was Oliveira’s third MotoGP win, and further confirmation that the updates brought by KTM to Mugello – where Oliveira took his first top 10 and first podium of the season – have aided the #88 significantly. 

Zarco’s ride was superb, managing the tyres well to have more grip than anyone at the end. WIthout some back-and-forth exchanges between himself, Marc Marquez and a few others at the start of the race, it could have been one step better for the #5, but as it is he cut his championship deficit to Quartararo to 17, with two races to go before the summer break. 

Jack Miller was the beneficiary of Quartararo’s three-second penalty, and it was a good response from Miller after a disappointing Mugello. The Australian took his third podium in four races, cut his championship deficit to 28 points, and moved ahead of his teammate, Francesco Bagnaia, in the points battle.

Quartararo’s issue turned out not to be grip, or not solely grip, at least. Instead, his leathers came open, and he was forced to throw away his chest protector in the middle of turn three. That he was able to continue riding at race speed with such a distraction and discomfort was impressive, but that he was allowed to was alarming. A crash in that condition could have been disastrous, and he should not have been allowed to continue by the Stewards. It should also be noted that a retrospective penalty of added race time, or a grid penalty for the next race, for example, would rather miss the point. 

Joan Mir surprisingly struggled in the second half of the race, and ended up dropping backwards, finishing 5.3 seconds off the win. After such a strong start it was a surprise to see the Suzuki not hang in there until the end, but the result highlights the work the Hamamatsu brand have to do on the GSX-RR. 

Mir had the relatively un-worrying presence of Maverick Vinales behind him in the final laps, but there was rarely any kind of real threat from the #12 to the #36. The only place Vinales looked to shape for a move was in the first corner, where Mir had him handily covered on the brakes. 

It was a difficult race for Francesco Bagnaia, who finished seventh and missed pace in the whole race, like Brad Binder who finished just behind him in eighth. Bagnaia now misses 30 points in the championship compared to Quartararo, and needs a strong response in Germany. 

Franco Morbidelli was ninth, suffering after a bad start from which he was unable to recover. It was inevitable that, starting from the second row, Morbidelli would get eaten up on the long run down to turn one on his two-year-old Yamaha, but slipping outside the top 10 in the opening stages was perhaps even more severe than expected. The same thing happened to his teammate, Valentino Rossi, who was 17th in the opening laps and unable to progress due to the Yamaha’s straight line deficit. It highlights the strength of Quartararo, who has front-end confidence which is unmatched by his Yamaha stablemates, and allows him to overcome the lack of power of the YZR-M1 where it hurts the most: in a battle.

Rounding out the top 10 was Enea Bastianini; while Alex Marquez was 11th, ahead of Luca Marini, Takaaki Nakagami, Jorge Martin on his return (and on his second bike after he crashed on the sighting lap), and Lorenzo Savadori who was last of the 15 finishers and took the final point. 

Pol Espargaro was the first crasher, at turn five. Danilo Petrucci then went down in turn nine, before Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro both fell victim to the re-profiled, bumpy turn 10. Valentino Rossi went down at the same corner as A. Espargaro and Marquez, before Iker Lecuona crashed at turn 13.