2022 Motul Grand Prix of Japan

From Aprilia:
"Both will have a chance for redemption for the Japanese weekend straight away, less than one week from now in Buriram, Thailand."

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"We had a great opportunity to make up points today because I was faster than my direct championship contender rivals. From this point of view, the problem on the bike during the sighting lap really penalised us. It’s disappointing and there’s no point in denying it. I can’t say that I’m happy but we are a team and we need to remember that precisely at times like this. We have fought hard together to get to this level and we’ll give it our best all the way to the last lap of the last race."

MAVERICK VIÑALES
"It was a difficult race. I struggle with lack of grip at the rear from the first lap. I had a hard time stopping the bike and it was a battle for a seventh-place finish which is not a result to turn up our noses at but I’m convinced that our potential was higher. We made the more conservative choice, namely the medium compound, whereas in the warmup I had good feelings with the soft and maybe that was a mistake. We’ll learn from this, as always, because we must not forget that our growth process is still in evolution. In these situations, the important thing is to take home the best possible result and that’s what we did."

I've watched the race three times now, but I'm still not sure what I witnessed. It seems that lack of qualifying and practice time is the secret sauce to make the sport interesting. If the engineers have time to get the computers and settings dialed it, forget it. F1 city. If it's raining and miserable and then the race is dry, or vise versa, chaos will reign and the riders will have to get it sorted. Maybe we should have three races, starting on Friday, and getting worth fewer points as they move towards Sunday.

Miller was awesome, of course, and it shows he can still do the business. Unsure if he nailed his setup in a short period of time or if he rode around the issues with this bike like the champions of old. Regardless, it was an awesome ride. Same can be said for Binder and Martin. I'm sure Binder was probably riding around minor issues. Not sure about Martin. Maybe he's got an awesome baseline setting. The championship contenders, on the other hand, had a laughable weekend. Bagnaia, apparently felt like he needed to make the championship more challenging by chucking the bike down the road on the final lap. The way he rode at Motegi gives the appearance that his race weekend is utterly dependent upon the factory engineers setting up the bike and electronics for him. Same for Bastianini. Aleix had a nightmare. Not sure how much of it was his fault, since the bike had a fault on the warm up lap, but he wasn't looking particularly strong, prior to his electro-mechanical woes. Quartararo also struggled to make an impression, despite being at a circuit with a short straight, and several long radius turns that reward edge grip and mid-corner speed. Motegi has never really been Yamaha-land, but 8th wasn't a great showing. Fabio is also showing some mental vulnerability. The idea that keeping your opponent from the top step of the rostrum for 60 days is the key to breaking him mentally seems to be holding true for Fabio. He's seems out of sorts, even after a race where he picked up valuable points over his rivals.

Overall, the Japanese Grand Prix seemed like the story of 2-types of MotoGP riders--the dudes who can ride motorcycles, and the setup princesses who need 2.5 days of data gathering to get their bike ready for front running. Okay, maybe that's just my bias showing, but I'm a bit shocked at how poorly the championship leaders ran without their race sims and computers. I reserve a bit of judgment for Quartararo because maybe setting up a cornerspeed bike takes time, even if there are few computers involved, but his psychological weaknesses are on display.

Lack of practice time and qualifying:

I think this issue is becoming more important. As the calendar gets longer it seems that all teams are locked in to not only the engine for a year but most other major components as well. Though there may not be prohibition against other components, the lack of testing time on or off the track seems to preclude many new parts being fitted.

The exception seems to be of course aero bits….

The result of all this homogenization seems to be boring racing. And a season that is actually too long.

From Ducati:

Luigi Dall'Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager)
"I am delighted with Jack's victory, because he is a wonderful person and one of the strongest riders in MotoGP. He was clearly superior to everyone today: he rode impeccably, making incredible overtakes and keeping a very high pace despite being alone at the front. He really deserved this success! Of course, I am very sorry for Pecco's crash, but I think it can happen to a rider who is giving everything to win a world title. Now we have to put this race today behind us and continue as if nothing happened."

Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 1st
"Already from the first session on Friday I felt really comfortable with the Desmosedici GP on this track and today I was able to find the same feelings again. Yesterday I was quite disappointed that I couldn't to go beyond seventh in qualifying in the wet, conditions in which I am usually competitive, but today in the race it was different. I was able to get a good start and once I got the first position I just went at my own pace. I think I have never ridden so well in my life and this is definitely my best race ever. I'm also very happy that I was able to get another win with the Ducati Lenovo Team, first because the guys on my team always give their all for me and it's nice to be able to celebrate a third win together."

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) - Retired
"First, I would like to apologize to my team because today's crash was only due to my mistake. Compared to this morning's warm up, I didn't have a good feeling with the bike and I made an overambitious maneuver in an attempt to overtake Fabio. I was hoping that if I passed him, maybe I could take advantage of a possible mistake by Viñales to make up more ground. In any case, I will reflect on my mistake. The only positive note today was Jack's victory, which makes me really happy. Now let's try to stay focused and think about the next race on Sunday in Buriram, Thailand".

mylexicon said:

I've watched the race three times now, but I'm still not sure what I witnessed. It seems that lack of qualifying and practice time is the secret sauce to make the sport interesting. If the engineers have time to get the computers and settings dialed it, forget it. F1 city. If it's raining and miserable and then the race is dry, or vise versa, chaos will reign and the riders will have to get it sorted. Maybe we should have three races, starting on Friday, and getting worth fewer points as they move towards Sunday.

Miller was awesome, of course, and it shows he can still do the business. Unsure if he nailed his setup in a short period of time or if he rode around the issues with this bike like the champions of old. Regardless, it was an awesome ride. Same can be said for Binder and Martin. I'm sure Binder was probably riding around minor issues. Not sure about Martin. Maybe he's got an awesome baseline setting. The championship contenders, on the other hand, had a laughable weekend. Bagnaia, apparently felt like he needed to make the championship more challenging by chucking the bike down the road on the final lap. The way he rode at Motegi gives the appearance that his race weekend is utterly dependent upon the factory engineers setting up the bike and electronics for him. Same for Bastianini. Aleix had a nightmare. Not sure how much of it was his fault, since the bike had a fault on the warm up lap, but he wasn't looking particularly strong, prior to his electro-mechanical woes. Quartararo also struggled to make an impression, despite being at a circuit with a short straight, and several long radius turns that reward edge grip and mid-corner speed. Motegi has never really been Yamaha-land, but 8th wasn't a great showing. Fabio is also showing some mental vulnerability. The idea that keeping your opponent from the top step of the rostrum for 60 days is the key to breaking him mentally seems to be holding true for Fabio. He's seems out of sorts, even after a race where he picked up valuable points over his rivals.

Overall, the Japanese Grand Prix seemed like the story of 2-types of MotoGP riders--the dudes who can ride motorcycles, and the setup princesses who need 2.5 days of data gathering to get their bike ready for front running. Okay, maybe that's just my bias showing, but I'm a bit shocked at how poorly the championship leaders ran without their race sims and computers. I reserve a bit of judgment for Quartararo because maybe setting up a cornerspeed bike takes time, even if there are few computers involved, but his psychological weaknesses are on display.

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I have said before that in this regard, he's very much like Lorenzo. Temperment not dissimilar, tho he hides his anger better.

Keshav said:

I have said before that in this regard, he's very much like Lorenzo. Temperment not dissimilar, tho he hides his anger better.

Click to expand...

Who is the he you are talking about here? Fabio?

And a small video of Miller's celebrations or as he says 'now I can afford to get married' - click to watch on Youtube as Dorna block embedding



Tell tale for me here is the genuine happiness so many non-Ducati people give to him ................. good to see

Bern1 said:

Who is the he you are talking about here? Fabio?

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Baggy.