MotoGP: 2024 Round 1 Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar

Faz said:

Pramac 1st and 20th! I know Frankie has missed most of testing but I feel he needs to get on the pace rapidly or Pramac will look to replace him before too long.

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How common are mid season riders changes in moto gp? Fabio should demand a buyout from Yamaha and get on that Aprilia

Bit of a lackluster sprint IMO. I felt as if Marc would have overtaken Pecco had there been more laps so full race should be interesting. Beastia a bit of a disappointment. Pedro didn't get off the line very well so let's see if he can do better in the race. Who knows, top 5? Maybe that's asking a bit much. Jack did what Jack does which is to say, fell like a stone. Just a matter of time now, me thinks. Overall a pretty good weekend for R. Fernandez in making Q2. I found myself really rooting for Aleix to get Pecco so I'm glad he did. Great job from Binder and of course, Martin. If Martin gets the jump in the race I'm thinking it may take some laps but he'll eventually clear off. If it has to be a Ducati to win the championship, I wouldn't mind seeing Martin do it. He won me over last year.

Oh yea....Yamaha = nowhere.

Martin is off and running, Binder did a good job too. The factory Ducatis seemed to be struggling with grip, MM looked comfortable, and the Aprilia might be for real!

Like most everybody, I’m not reading too much into any race at Qatar. I like the way that Marquez looked comfortable, and didn’t feel pressed to win the race in the first lap. Looking forward to see what he does in a full length race after having a little track time.

Bern1 said:

Just watched Q2, riveting! In spite of the location and its’s dusty reputation, I love the flowing nature of this track.

Martin picking up where he left off, riding with a point to prove, which he does, just like last year and the year before. I have a feeling this season is all going to come down to who holds best their nerve, from the first race to the last. I agree that consistency will be the deciding feature in the championship. If MM, Pecco or anybody else wants to find the limit, they had best do it in practice.

Interesting write up from Dean (I’m not usually a fan of his) on Superbike Planet about Trackhouse and their resources. What if they buy a good percentage of Piaggio, get factory bikes and sign Quartarraro? Interesting if remote chance.
Fabio would be crazy to throw his lot in with Yamaha for another contract. I like Aleix and even Mav, but both have repeatedly shown why neither one will ever really contend, even if the bike could. Aprilia need a gun on that team. They should sign Fabs.

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Absolutely no reason for Aprilia to retain Mav at least. He and Miller today got beat by a rookie on a satellite bike.
I'm guessing Vinales has some dirt on someone because year after year not only does he get to stick around, but he gets a factory seat and a .... ton of money doing do.

Get Acosta on Miller's bike, Fabio on an Aprilia and let the likes on Vinales earn big bucks riding Japanese bikes slowly.

On to the race. Martin will be champ if he adds consistency to his pace though like others have said, Prosecco Pecco will be up there tomorrow.
Beast was better than last yr but the jury is still out. Acosta was hugely impressive as was Marc. Fastest lap of the race and had he not fluffed the start and first lap, I think he'd have had a better shot at the podium.

Finally, glad Diggia is OK. That was a horrible accident and could have been a lot worse.

JFM01 said:

I wouldn't read too much into the result of the first sprint. Martin already dominated the sprints last year and often faded in the race.
Frantisek is the top favor for the title imo, he'll continue to get the golden boy treatment.

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That is kind of my point. He will dominate the sprints and win some races. Its making the best of those races he cannot win that he needs to do better at this year.

Only 1 faller.

The top 6 were close enough to indicate what will happen in the race. KTM and Aprilia are with the Ducati’s at this circuit. We can ignore Morbidelli at this point as he isn’t ready to race and that means that all 3 GP24’s are in the fight unlike KTM and Aprilia who had a sole rider each. M Marquez can mix it with the GP24’s on the GP23

As expected Honda & Yamaha aren’t there

Kudos to Acosta on an 8th in his first sprint

#22 said:

Absolutely no reason for Aprilia to retain Mav at least. He and Miller today got beat by a rookie on a satellite bike.
I'm guessing Vinales has some dirt on someone because year after year not only does he get to stick around, but he gets a factory seat and a .... ton of money doing do.

Get Acosta on Miller's bike, Fabio on an Aprilia and let the likes on Vinales earn big bucks riding Japanese bikes slowly.

On to the race. Martin will be champ if he adds consistency to his pace though like others have said, Prosecco Pecco will be up there tomorrow.
Beast was better than last yr but the jury is still out. Acosta was hugely impressive as was Marc. Fastest lap of the race and had he not fluffed the start and first lap, I think he'd have had a better shot at the podium.

Finally, glad Diggia is OK. That was a horrible accident and could have been a lot worse.

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I know a certain Japanese team who won't be ringing mavdick on the phone.

Everything as expected. Nothing new under the sun, despite some excited people (media and riders) bouncing around with the same ........ as always. Doha has always been a track that favored 2 kinds of bikes: those that goes fast out of the corner and through a straight (stop and go bikes), and those that goes fast in the very corners itself (corner speed bikes). That's exactly what we saw today fighting at the top 6. Aleix is excited but he's as dumb as always. Aprilia is now more like the Yamaha of the past, and it will fade away in tracks where it's important to have acceleration and top speed and will shine in tracks where corner speed comes to hand. But they have exaggerated a bit with aeros in my opinion, too much sacrifice in the acceleration phase to gain in corners. Let's see how it unfolds during the season, but whatever, they still have Aleix and Vinales and that's their main issue for now: an stupid and dumb ....... and the fakest top rider ever. KTM is positioned at the same place as always, good package but not "there yet". They've always lacked something to be on top. Maybe a rider.

So I see both Aprilia and KTM lacking a top notch rider to be able to be serious title contenders.

As for M. Marquez, as expected. He's doing great. I never believed he would re-debut blowing our minds as himself did in 2013, but it's good to see him again at the top 5. Let's see how patient he'll be to keep fighting only for these places and not for winning and then starting to mess everything up (crashes).

As for Ducati, well, they have chattering with their new machine. That's a fact now. Chronic issue or they'll find out and fix? We'll see.

Title contenders for this year: Martin and Pecco. Again. Will Martin be able to put up with the pressure? I think this year Martin has everything to win. I think this year he'll get it. I like this guy. But he seems a bit dumb, kinda like Ianone 2.0 or something like that. However, he seems to have some more neurons than Ianone and this might be enough, together with his speed, to bring him the trophy.

gui22a said:

Everything as expected. Nothing new under the sun, despite some excited people (media and riders) bouncing around with the same ........ as always. Doha has always been a track that favored 2 kinds of bikes: those that goes fast out of the corner and through a straight (stop and go bikes), and those that goes fast in the very corners itself (corner speed bikes). That's exactly what we saw today fighting at the top 6. Aleix is excited but he's as dumb as always. Aprilia is now more like the Yamaha of the past, and it will fade away in tracks where it's important to have acceleration and top speed and will shine in tracks where corner speed comes to hand. But they have exaggerated a bit with aeros in my opinion, too much sacrifice in the acceleration phase to gain in corners. Let's see how it unfolds during the season, but whatever, they still have Aleix and Vinales and that's their main issue for now: an stupid and dumb ....... and the fakest top rider ever. KTM is positioned at the same place as always, good package but not "there yet". They've always lacked something to be on top. Maybe a rider.

So I see both Aprilia and KTM lacking a top notch rider to be able to be serious title contenders.

As for M. Marquez, as expected. He's doing great. I never believed he would re-debut blowing our minds as himself did in 2013, but it's good to see him again at the top 5. Let's see how patient he'll be to keep fighting only for these places and not for winning and then starting to mess everything up (crashes).

As for Ducati, well, they have chattering with their new machine. That's a fact now. Chronic issue or they'll find out and fix? We'll see.

Title contenders for this year: Martin and Pecco. Again. Will Martin be able to put up with the pressure? I think this year Martin has everything to win. I think this year he'll get it. I like this guy. But he seems a bit dumb, kinda like Ianone 2.0 or something like that. However, he seems to have some more neurons than Ianone and this might be enough, together with his speed, to bring him the trophy.

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Just out of curiosity, what tracks favor bikes they do not go fast in a straight line or around corners?

KTM has the top finishing non-ducati rider for the over all last year and the next great hope. What more do they need?

MdubSTYLIE said:

Just out of curiosity, what tracks favor bikes they do not go fast in a straight line or around corners?

KTM has the top finishing non-ducati rider for the over all last year and the next great hope. What more do they need?

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None. It happens that Doha doesn't make any difference of these two bike characters as it's a circuit that favors both styles equally but at different sectors, so the strongest bikes with one of this skills will have no problem fighting for the win as had always been the case in the past with Yamaha vs Ducati but rarely a Honda winning for example.

Apparently both Yamaha riders complained about their tires being shot after a few laps, and that's the sprint. If it's a problem endemic to the bike, it's gonna be painful for them.

MdubSTYLIE said:

Its making the best of those races he cannot win that he needs to do better at this year.

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^^^^^^ This...........but also working on not crashing out with a 3.5 second lead as well as making better tire choices.

TeamKoolGreen said:

Bagnaia was a dud so far. All that testing hype and he's on the back foot. Glad to see Marc with some patients.

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I think Bagnaia has learned to play it smart, get points, stay out of the gravel traps.

DavidSim said:

I think Bagnaia has learned to play it smart, get points, stay out of the gravel traps.

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Definitely. Just like last yr, Bagnaia often was struggling in Sprints and then won the main race.
My money is on him or Aleix tomorrow. Though I'd love Maec to win! I watched the sprint again this evening and the bad start/first lap really hindered him. The fact he dropped off the pace than ran wide after following Bagnaia for a few laps, then was quicker towards the end of the race again indicates his front tyre temp peaked, especially as he was pushing to recover from a bad start.

I'll say it will be a F BAG, A ESP, M MAR podium, but not sure what order.

Marquez lost the front at one point on that race, think it was when he passed A Espargo, and farked the start. Looked ok though and should get stronger. The 24 Ducatis will get better also as the season progresses.
Espargo did well on the Aprilia. Keep him but lose Vinales. The KTM has a good engine

Having watched Acosta come through Moto3 and Moto2, I think his performance today is excellent. I've never thought him to be a fast learner, and expected him to take longer to get up to speed in MotoGP. But, so far so good.

The Aprilia has to be a threat tomorrow. No Japanese bikes will be. We'll see if the extra development this year helps. I think Zarco did an excellent job - and look where he was.

In terms of predicting the championship - looks like it could easily be Bagnaia versus Martin again. Others are perhaps closer, but I just have a feeling we'll get a repeat championship challenge. But, as to which one will win out - who knows.

Difficult to predict the race, my feeling is that the top 6 and perhaps Digi in the sprint is close to what the race will be but the order will be different, we would need more info on things like tyre wear to get a better judgement of the race

Order will be a complete guess, so I'll guess;
1. Martin
2. Bagnaia
3. Binder
4. M Marquez
5. Digi
6. A Esparagro
7. Bastianini

Digi was just so so lucky. Kudos to the guys who actively avoiding him. Not sure if he was hurt or just in shock afterwards with how close he came to being in serious trouble.

Ducati is going to have a really hard decision to make soon. Martin looking the goods, Marquez performing on a year old bike. Gigi will know the difference between the two bikes but I don’t envy their position at all.