MotoGP: Returning to the Scene of the Crime

The MotoGP World Championship returns to the Red Bull Ring this week still somewhat shook from the events of the Austrian Grand Prix that took place at the same circuit last weekend. 

When Johann Zarco’s Ducati made contact with Franco Morbidelli’s Yamaha in the braking zone for turn three on lap nine of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, it would create one of the most chilling incidents we have seen in MotoGP. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, and each of the four riders most directly involved in the incident – Zarco, Morbidelli and the factory Yamaha duo of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales – should be able to line up this weekend for the first ever Styrian (motorcycle) Grand Prix. 

‘Should’ is, though, a very much necessary word. Johann Zarco flew to Italy in the week to have a broken scaphoid operated on. The Frenchman is hoping to return to action this weekend, nonetheless, but whether he can make the full weekend remains to be seen. 

Unfortunately, one week is not enough time to make any serious changes to the track layout in road racing, and so we have the same track as last week, albeit with some air fences on the wall outside of turn three now, which was requested by the riders. 

It must be said that the World Championship racing on the same circuit and the same layout where it came so close to disaster one week ago seems bizarre. When Luis Salom lost his life in practice at Barcelona in 2016, the layout used changed from the ‘classic’ Barcelona layout, with the long, sweeping turn 10 and fast turn 12, to the F1 layout, with the tighter hairpin at turn 10 and the chicane replacing turn 12. Austria, though, does not have such layout options, and so we arrive at the situation where Grand Prix riders are racing on a circuit which has been proven to be too dangerous. It seems a little bit ‘old fashioned’, and not in a good way. 

However, there is only one alternative, which is to not race. This was unlikely to ever be the decision of Dorna, the race organisers or the FIM. The organisers get nothing from a cancelled GP, and Dorna and the FIM are already battling a compressed and shortened season due to COVID-19. Whether racing is the right decision will only be determined on Sunday at about 14:45 local time. 

Aside from safety issues and crashes, it was Andrea Dovizioso who stole the show in Austria, as he won for the third time in the Red Bull Ring and became the first rider to win back-to-back Austrian Grands Prix since Kevin Schwantz, who won in 1989 and 1990 at the Salzburgring. 

The day before taking victory, and hours before qualifying fourth for the race that saw that win, Dovizioso announced he was leaving Ducati at the end of 2020. It seemed to do the job of freeing the #04’s mind and allowing him to focus on riding and fighting for the championship, in which he is now 11 points behind Fabio Quartararo, who remains the championship leader as he has been since the beginning of the season in Jerez. 

Quartararo’s race was ruined by suspected faulty brake pads, which caused inconsistent braking performance on the Frenchman’s YZR-M1, and occasionally the lever would come back to the handlebar. Understandably, this prohibited Quartararo’s progress, and it could be expected that he will stand a better chance this weekend. 

However, there is also the issue of straight line speed for the Yamaha riders to be concerned about. Perhaps the most obvious case study of the Yamaha’s struggles on the Red Bull Ring’s numerous high speed straights is the two or three seconds just before Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli made contact, ad Zarco was able to pull alongside and be slightly ahead of Morbidelli before they even tipped in to turn two, the left kink before turn three. If a Ducati, a KTM or a Honda is anywhere near the rear tyre of a Yamaha in the first half of the lap there is almost a guarantee that they will swap positions before turn four. That’s hard to live with, and it’s hard to defend a championship lead in that situation. 

Of course, Dovizioso was not the only Ducati on the podium last weekend, Jack Miller was, too. The Australian did not have any fresh medium-compound front tyres left after the red flag, so on the restart put the soft-compound Michelin in the front of his Desmosedici. This worked for Miller initially, but from five laps in it clearly became a struggle for the #43. He was able to hold onto second place for most of the second half of the race, but was over-defensive into the penultimate corner. The bike, from there, started to hop as Miller tried to turn in, so he had no choice but to go deep. Joan Mir, who had been fighting with Miller in the final laps, was then able to cut underneath Miller and beat him to the line. 

It was Mir’s first podium in MotoGP and Suzuki’s first of 2020. Alex Rins had been up there with his teammate for much of the race and looked to have the pace to win, but crashed immediately after taking the lead from Dovizioso. But Mir showed the potential of the Suzuki, and both the #36 and the #42 should be there fighting at the front again this weekend. 

There was a notable lack of orange in the front group last weekend. Partly, this was due to Repsol Honda still being without Marc Marquez, as they will be again this week, but since that was already known before the race, the lack of orange was felt on behalf of KTM. 

Pol Espargaro was fast in the first start, running the same pace as Dovizioso and the Spaniard looked like he had the chance to win. However, the red flag ruined his race, as he had no more medium rear tyres left, and had to put the soft. The soft-compound did not offer the rear support after a few laps, and soon Espargaro began missing corners and falling back. Then, having been passed by Joan Mir on lap seven in turn four, the Suzuki rider holding a tighter line on exit than the one preferred by Espargaro (‘preferred’ proven by Espargaro’s consistency in using this wider line), Miguel Oliveira had a look inside the #44 at turn four on lap eight. 

Oliveira was unable to pull off the move to the same effect as Mir, drifted wide and as the more common racing line came back to Espargaro’s wider line, the two KTM riders made contact, both crashing and ending both of their races. It was a disaster for the pair of them, but especially Oliveira, who had a stronger pace than Espargaro in the second start, and could have fought for the podium. 

With Oliveira and Espargaro out, that left only Brad Binder and Iker Lecuona in the race for KTM, and with Lecuona down the order, it was Binder who, as in Brno, flew the flag for KTM, finishing fourth.

Looking at the final position of Binder, and now considering he has a weekend’s worth of experience at the Red Bull Ring on a MotoGP bike, as well as looking at how fast Espargaro and Oliveira were before they went down, it looks like KTM should have three horses in the Styrian Grand Prix. 

Although Honda don’t have Marc Marquez, they do have Takaaki Nakagami, who was again top Honda in Austria. The Japanese finished sixth in the end, just behind Valentino Rossi, and could be a factor in the lead group this weekend in the first ever Styrian Grand Prix.