2024 MotoGP Round 6: Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

mikesbytes said:

I've heard that a track can have low grip and also be abrasive. Don't ask me how, this is past my armchair expertise

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I may have heard tell of same. Regardless, a soft will be less advantageous at the end of the race as it will suffer more degradation than a harder compound. When utilized by a rider as good on worn tires as Marquez, the disparity in traction between soft and medium at the end of the race, I believe, will be less dramatic. I would speculate, possibly, that Marquez might well have been able to pass Morbideli (or "Morbid Delicatessen", or just "Dead Sandwich" as I sometimes think of him) if he were not calculating how much tire to spend on making the pass, knowing he would need to conserve it more for the run to the front. In the event, the sheer amount of on-the-spot intuitive strategizing these guys do at 200 Mph is phenomenally impressive. I always wonder how much of that is intellect and how much is just animal instinct.