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  • F1 2018: Force India Rues “Difficult” Australian Grand Prix

    F1 2018: Force India Rues “Difficult” Australian Grand Prix

    It is probably fair to say that Force India were one of, if not the, most underwhelming team over the course of the weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. The signs were perhaps there during testing to suggest that this year might be something of a struggle for the Silverstone-based team, but for an outfit that has been F1’s resident giant-killer for the last few years, to not even get one car into the points in Melbourne was a massive disappointment.

    For the last two years Force India has been ‘best of the rest’ in the championship, finishing fourth in the WCC behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, and in 2017 they scored points in every race bar Monaco.

    In Australia this year, though, both Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were knocked out in Q2, with the former ultimately finishing the race P11, just over one second behind a nauseous Carlos Sainz, and the latter P12. They would have finished even lower than that had the wheels not literally come off midfield rivals Haas’ race.

    A major upgrade package was introduced ready for free practice on Friday, with technical director Andy Green saying that the front wing was the only part of the car that had not been changed.

    Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM11.
    Australian Grand Prix, Sunday 25th March 2018. Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.

    As such, Sergio Perez is hoping for better things to come in the upcoming races. “We still need to move on and keep improving, but I believe we will soon be in a position to battle for points,” he said. “Hopefully our improvements will [begin to] come as early as Bahrain. It’s a race where you can overtake and strategy plays a bigger part compared to Melbourne.’

    Esteban Ocon, too, highlighted the nature of the Albert Park track as one of the main hindrances to the team’s chances during the race. “It was very difficult to overtake,” he said, “and even though I managed to jump ahead of Lance [Stroll] on the first lap, everyone quickly spread out until the safety car. I had a fight with [Valtteri] Bottas for a while and after the safety car restart I was close to making a move on Sergio. We certainly had better race pace compared to our qualifying pace, but we are just missing some performance to be up there in the top ten at the moment.”

    Deputy team principle Bob Fernley believes the key to Force India’s success in the rest of 2018 will lie in the team’s ability to out-develop its rivals. “It’s early days in the season,” he said, “and with twenty races to go there will be plenty of opportunities to develop this car and show our strengths… We’re on a learning curve with the developments we introduced this weekend and there’s more in the pipeline for Bahrain.”

  • What goes around comes around

    What goes around comes around

    Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel are in party mode, after an unexpected victory in the first race of the 2018 season in Melbourne.

    The German driver, qualified third, behind his team-mate and the 2017 world champion, Lewis Hamilton. The Italians took a risk and split the strategy between the drivers, Kimi Raikkonen pitted on lap 21, switched from ultrasofts to softs, Mercedes called Lewis Hamilton into the pits right after Kimi’s stop. Sebastian Vettel, remained on track for some extra laps, on the 25th lap Kevin Magnussen pitted from the fourth position, a few meters after Kevin re-joined the track, forced to step aside and park his car due to an error during the pit-stop.

    A couple of laps later, Romain Grosjean pitted for a fresh set of supersofts tyres, but he copied his team-mate exact footsteps, Romain parked his car and retired from the race, for the same reason as Kevin Magnussen, loose wheels, after the pit-stop. The wheels on both cars were not being placed correctly before the nuts were tightened.

    The only difference between Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, retirement, was the Grosjean’s car could not be easily recovered, hence the VSC deployed followed by a safety car.

    During the VSC period, Sebastian Vettel pitted, that gave him a 10 second advantage over Lewis Hamilton. The German, re-join ahead of the Mercedes and he was leading the race. Hamilton pushed hard, after the SC, to catch and pass Vettel, the British champion was very close to Vettel’s Ferrari, but a small driving error cost him time and he also lost pace in the final laps of the race.

    Sebastian Vettel celebrated a second consecutive victory in Australia and started the 2018 year with the same way he did in 2017.

    A poor strategy, cost the chance to Red Bull to be competitive and score a podium in Australia. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen started the race on supersofts, Verstappen and Ricciardo qualified fourth and eighth respectively. A three place grid penalty was given to Daniel Ricciardo for failing to slow down for a red flag, during free practice.

    The Dutch, was not quick enough to challenge the two Ferraris in the opening lap, at turn one on the tenth lap, Max spun his Red Bull and lost places. He was unable to recover, as he was also facing unbalance issues caused by the damaged floor on his car.

    Daniel Ricciardo wanted to finish on the podium in his home race, after the retirement of the two Haas, the Australian was fourth behind Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn, had to defend his position as Daniel was on his tail for most of the time in the final laps of the Grand Prix.

    At the end, Ricciardo finished fourth and Max Verstappen sixth, behind Fernando Alonso.

    Double point finish for McLaren

    For the first time since 2014, McLaren scored points in Melbourne. The fifth place that Alonso took matched his best ever result in three years with Honda power. McLaren, couldn’t imagine a better start, Alonso and Vandoorne scored 12 points combined in the opening race of the 2018 season.

    Furthermore, Fernando Alonso had the pace to hold back a Red Bull and he finished ahead of Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes.

    The outcome of the race affected by the VSC and Haas retirements, personally I was impressed with the pace the American team showed in the first laps of the Grand Prix and I would like to see them racing until the chequered flag.

    It is still too early to judge, but I will take the risk to say that Asia will play a key role in the championship. If Ferrari has learnt from their mistakes, this year will be very interesting till the final chequered flag.

     

     

     

  • PitCrew HQ 2018 F1 Predictions

    PitCrew HQ 2018 F1 Predictions

    Here at the PitCrew HQ we have been busy studying and following all the latest F1 news. And each member has predicted which drivers will be in the top 5 after Abu Dhabi. And here is what we came up with.

    As you can see our predictions.  Lewis Hamilton is our overall favourite. Also everyone picked different predictions barring 2 people who picked the same. Do you agree with our crew. Who would be your top 5?

  • WSBK Thailand: The ‘Destination Of Speed’ Awaits

    Four weeks after the sensational opening round at Philip Island, the World Superbike paddock sets up shop this weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand.

    Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) scored a brilliant double last time out in Australia, and will be looking to increase his lead at the top of the championship. History has not been kind to the factory-supported Ducati team. In the previous three years that World Superbikes has been visiting the Buriram track, no rider aboard a Panigale machine has stood on the top step of the podium.  The best result by any Ducati rider here is second place, achieved by Melandri’s teammate, Chaz Davies, in 2017. Davies will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing round in Australia, and reassert himself as the team’s number one. Davies has a good record here. Despite never having yet claimed victory, the 31-year old has finished on the podium twice here (second place in 2015 and third place in 2016). 

    Aruba.it Ducati will also be facing competition from their privateer counterparts. Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) was the standout independent rider from the opening round last month. The Spaniard threw the form book out of the proverbial window during the second race, to claim a remarkable third place finish just behind Melandri and Jonathan Rea (KRT) . At the Thai circuit we could see Fores feature prominently again, as the track suits the strengths of the Panigale 1199 as well as the ‘no holds barred’ style of its rider.

    By their own admission the all-conquering Kawasaki Racing Team were disappointed to leave Phillip Island with two second place finishes. Despite starting the opening race from pole position, tyre trouble denied Tom Sykes. Jonathan Rea was beaten to the line in the thrilling drag race in race two. KRT have every reason to expect success this weekend. Since the World Superbike Championship first visited Thailand in 2015, the green and black machines have held an exclusive monopoly at the track with victory in all six previous races. Rea standing on the top step of the podium a staggering five times, with Sykes securing his victory in 2016.

    Red Bull Honda looking to back up their strong performance from Australia. Leon Camier returned from the opening round with a solid haul of points for the team – underlining how far the team has improved since last season. The British rider defied all expectation, taking a brace of sixth place finishes. Most notably, in race 2 the Honda rider finished under 3 seconds shy of the winner. It was a challenging weekend for his teammate, Jake Gagne. The American had never before ridden the Phillip Island circuit, and the objectives were to simply learn the course, not crash and fight for points if possible. The rookie ticked all three boxes. It will be the case of “same again” this weekend as, having arrived from MotoAmerica, the 26-year old has never raced at the Buriram venue before.   

    Gagne is one of five riders who will be racing a superbike around the Buriram circuit for the first time this weekend. The other four being: Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW), Yonny Hernandez (Team Pedercini Racing), PJ Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki). 

    The Pata Yamaha team will be looking to improve upon their solid, if unspectacular, showing in round one. In the build up to the season much had been made of the growing rivalry between the two Yamaha riders, Alex Lowes (Great Britain) and Michael Van der Mark (Netherlands). If you include qualifying performances into consideration, Lowes arrives in Thailand with a 3-0 lead over his team-mate, having out scored his teammate in both races last time out.  The Buriram circuit has not been a happy hunting ground for the team, with a best result of fourth last year for Lowes, being the highlight. Straight line speed is critical at this track, something the team spent a considerable amount of time working on during the winter tests.

    Qualifying: Saturday, March 24th, 1330 Local Time (0630 GMT)

    Race 1: Saturday, March 24th, 1600 Local Time (0900 GMT)

    Race 2: Sunday, March 25th, 1600 Local Time (1000 BST)

     

  • Australian GP: Formula One has entered a new world, but that may not mean new challengers just yet.

    Australian GP: Formula One has entered a new world, but that may not mean new challengers just yet.

    In Formula One, the prize may remain the same and contenders look like remaining the same as the 2018 season draws upon us.

    Those aspects aside however, and the sport has taken a very different direction.

    We have a new logo, a halo, no grid girls but grid kids, races at ten past the hour and who knows, maybe some Honda reliability?

    We all know that you can never take testing times seriously, but even by recent standards this winter, snow and all, offered remarkably few clues as to this year’s world order.

    Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes remain favourites this year. Monte Carlo, Monaco.
    Saturday 27 May 2017.
    World Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
    ref: Digital Image _54I6817
    Hamilton was well within his rights to react angrily to Vettel.

    Tentative forecasts suggest that the big three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are very close together, but all six of their drivers have kept their cards close to their chests and have instead lavished praise on their competitors. Oddly, that’s probably the way their employers like it.

    And if you are going to use the Australian Grand Prix to look for the running order for the rest of the season, you may even end up being disappointed there too.

    While Mercedes won three curtain-raisers in a row between 2014-16, Melbourne has gained something of a reputation for throwing up a surprise result.

    Vettel may have won in Australia last year, but he took only one win during his dominance of the sport 2010-13 Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
    Sunday 26 March 2017.
    World Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
    ref: Digital Image _56I1907

    Indeed, Sebastian Vettel won only one Australian Grand Prix during his four-year dominance of the sport at the start of the decade.

    The battle to be best of the rest is similarly unclear.

    Early suggestions are that it’s between four teams; Renault, Haas, McLaren and Force India.

    If Toto Wolff is right, Haas will be the ones picking up the pieces should the top six come to blows, and the American team seemed to show good pace in the winter as they bid to improve on two successive eighth place finishes in their first two seasons.

    McLaren and Fernando Alonso are desperate for a return to form after three awful Honda years
    Steven Tee/LAT Images/McLaren Media

    McLaren had been struggling until the final day when they finally showed something like their true pace, while Renault threatened early and went about their business quietly thereafter after hitting small technical gremlins.

    McLaren are hopeful that their switch from Honda to Renault Power Units in the close season will give them around a second in pace, after three torrid years with Honda. Ironically, Honda look to have finally started to get their own act together with Toro Rosso.

    All of that is helpful with only three of each of the Power Unit elements allocated for 2018.

    Not all of these questions will be answered at the first race in Australia. In fact, the evidence gathering only starts now.

     

  • Martin Triumphs as Bastianini Falls – Moto3 GP of Qatar

    For the first race of the 2018 Moto3 World Championship, there was an air of familiarity about the first six laps. The 2013 season saw three in a league of their own: Luis Salom, Alex Rins and eventual series champion, Maverick Vinales. That season all three were on KTMs, the dominant package at the time, and shared all bar one of the wins of 2013 between them (Alex Marquez won the Japanese Grand Prix when both Rins and Salom crashed). This year, the three riders who have shown themselves to be a step ahead of the rest of the field are Jorge Martin, Aron Canet and Enea Bastianini, all on Honda machines.

    This weekend, Martin looked almost in a class of his own, with only Bastianini regularly challenging him, but The Beast qualified down in tenth, and with Canet down in seventh on the grid, it looked like Gresini Racing’s Martin would have a chance to break from the group early on in Sunday’s eighteen lap race. This is what he tried to do – by the time Bastianini arrived at the head of the chasing group, in second place, Martin was already 1.5 seconds in the lead, and to make things more difficult, Bastianini would have to negotiate Canet at the same time as closing the race leader. Nonetheless, within two laps, the chasing pair had caught Jorge, and Bastianini hit the front at the beginning of lap five, breaking Martin’s leadership for the first time in the race. Entering lap six, though, and the two Spaniards re-passed Enea, and in his ambition to stick with Martin, the Italian crashed out of the race at turn six, losing the rear initially, which sent him a little offline, and then folding the front. La Bestia was unable to re-join, and so leaves the first race of the season already way off the pace in the championship.

    Canet and Martin continued their private battle for the lead, and throughout the race made it increasingly more exclusive, stretching out a gap of nearly seven seconds to the chasing pack by the end of the race.

    The younger of the two, Canet, made a very curious race, almost never leading, despite failing to detach himself from his compatriot’s rear tyre from the moment he gained contact. Canet would sit up at the end of the straight every lap, roll off the throttle so as to not pass Martin, and not show his hand. The one time when Aron did take over the leadership of the race, it was due to a mistake from Jorge, who ran wide at turn one, but after one lap the Gresini Honda had re-passed the Estrella Galicia Marc VDS version.

    Canet was clearly waiting for the final lap, to slipstream Martin to the line, and there is a question mark over whether Canet was failing to pass his fellow Spaniard by the line on purpose to try to trick last year’s Valencia race winner into a false sense of security. Either way, the plan for Canet did not work, as Martin edged the victory by 0.023 seconds to deny Canet’s slipstream attempts. Perhaps Canet’s race was ruined by the Honda, which seems to give very little slipstream to the rider behind – this seemed visible in the race, and also through practice.

    It was not just the battle for the front that was very unusual for Moto3 – the battle for the final spot on the podium was distinctly unpopulated, with only six riders fighting for third for most of the race. The six were Lorenzo Dalla Porta, polesitter Niccolo Antonelli, Gabriel Rodrigo, Jakub Kornfeil, Ayumu Sasaki and Marco Bezzecchi, but were then joined by John McPhee, Kaito Toba and Fabio Di Giannantonio in the final laps. The fight was fierce, and it was inevitable that at least one of the riders would unfortunately not make the finish. John McPhee was the victim, clipping Sasaki’s Honda in the penultimate corner, taking him out of the race.

    Marco Bezzecchi also had an undeserved crash earlier in the lap at the dreaded turn six, where he folded the front. Fortunately for the big Italian, though, he was able to remount and took two points for fourteenth on his debut for the Pruestl GP team.

    Lorenzo Dalla Porta won out in the battle for the podium, beating home compatriot Nicco Antonelli in the run to the line by 0.045 seconds on the 2016 Moto3 Junior World Champion’s debut for the Leopard Racing Honda team, a welcome gift after the disaster of Bastianini.

    As implied it was Niccolo Antonelli who was the first of the non-podium finishers to cross the line – a positive result on his SIC58 Squadra Corse debut, and one he will hope to build from in the future.

    Gabriel Rodrigo was the first KTM home in fifth, which shows the continuation of 2017’s trend of Honda dominating the lightweight class.

    Fabio Di Giannantonio fought back well from a poor qualifying and underwhelming start to take sixth place, 0.030 seconds ahead of Honda Team Asia’s Kaito Toba, who sort of arrived in the battle for the podium from nowhere, but nonetheless fought well to take what is by far his career best finish.

    Toba beat home fellow Japanese Ayumu Sasaki who finished seventh, ahead of the KTM of Jakub Kornfeil, who made a return to the top ten after a couple of difficult seasons with the Sepang International Circuit team.

    The top ten was rounded out by another KTM (although that is still only three Austrian bikes inside the top 10 compared to seven Hondas), this time belonging to Andrea Migno, who made a decent debut for the Angel Nieto Team, finishing under one second away from the podium. He was followed sensation Jaume Masia.

    2017 Red Bull Rookies Champion Kazuki Masaki took home three points on his Grand Prix debut and finished only 8.829 seconds off the win. As previously mentioned, Bezzecchi finished fourteenth, with Marcos Ramirez taking the final point in fifteenth place.

    Dennis Foggia ended his full time Grand Prix debut 0.069 seconds off the final point, but will be disappointed to be 26 seconds off the win, nonetheless. Tony Arbolino was a further 6.5 seconds back of Foggia, with Nakarin Atiratphuvapat and Makar Yurchenko rounding out the nineteen finishers.

    That leaves seven riders unclassified: John McPhee, rookie Alonso Lopez, Livio Loi, Nicolo Bulega who is still struggling with his ankle injury from last season, the aforementioned Bastianini, Philipp Oettl and Darryn Binder, who made contact with the German.

    Whilst the opening round of the 2018 Moto3 season was by no means a classic, it perhaps did show the pattern the season will follow: three riders a step ahead of the rest of the field fighting for the championship. For sure, the other riders will be fighting also at the front of the races, but it will be Jorge Martin, Aron Canet and Enea Bastianini who will fight for the world title, and their battle will continue in Argentina in three weeks’ time.

  • Down Under – Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo & Max Verstappen Preview The 2018 F1 Australian GP | Mobil 1 The Grid

    Down Under – Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo & Max Verstappen Preview The 2018 F1 Australian GP | Mobil 1 The Grid

    Check out the newest preview from Mobil 1 The Grid of the Australian Grand Prix, featuring Max Verstappen & Daniel Ricciardo.

    Make sure that you follow Mobil 1 The Grid:
    Website: mobil1thegrid.com
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  • Australian Grand Prix: Race Preview

    Australian Grand Prix: Race Preview

    In a few days’ time, F1 will be back for 2018 and racing around the streets of Albert Park for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

    After a fortnight of pre-season testing confused by rain and snow, this will be the first chance to see who’s settled where in the pecking order over the winter.

    Ferrari Media

    Much of the focus will of course be on Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, as both drivers are gunning to become the first of their generation to win a fifth world title.

    After testing many are tipping Hamilton as having the advantage again, with Mercedes’ focus on long runs in Barcelona hinting at a daunting degree of race pace.

    But that’s not to say Mercedes will have the race all to themselves this weekend. The record-breaking lap times set by Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen in testing may have been a little flattered by low fuel loads, but still suggest there’s enough speed in Ferrari’s SF71H to give the Silver Arrows a real challenge in qualifying.

    And then there’s Red Bull, whose RB14 looked dependable on track and much closer to the top two than its predecessor. The Austrian outfit hasn’t won in Melbourne since 2011, but could Max Verstappen or homeboy Daniel Ricciardo have the machinery to buck that trend this year?

    Add that to the paddock talk from Barcelona that Mercedes is once again finding it difficult to unlock pace on the softer tyres, and the reigning champions could be facing a real headache on a weekend favouring the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft rubber.

    Renault Sport F1 Team

    Nor is it just the top three who might be in for a tough scrap in Albert Park—the race to take first blood in the upper midfield battle looks to be equally tight.

    At present, Renault looks favourite to be best-of-the-rest in Melbourne. The Enstone team has been one of the most-improved this winter, judging by a consistent presence high up the time and mileage leaderboards in testing, and their two drivers have a history of delivering good results in Australia.

    But Renault aren’t the only ones expected to make a solid start to their 2018 campaign. Haas made a big impression in pre-season testing and have been tipped by champions Mercedes to be this season’s dark horse. And the hype isn’t without good reason, either—Haas ended testing as the fifth fastest team, and with Kevin Magnussen as the sixth-fastest driver.

    And speaking of surprising testing performances, Honda will be hoping their respectable showing in Barcelona translates to their first points finish in the season opener since 2006.

    Together with new partners Toro Rosso, the Japanese marque ended pre-season testing with the third-highest number of laps per team as well as setting some decent midfield times.

    But form in testing is one thing—the true proof of Honda’s 2018 campaign will come when the STR13 takes to the race track this weekend.

    Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

  • Brendon Leigh interview – ‘If the right people help grow the series then it can reach the same viewership.’

    Brendon Leigh made headlines last year when he won the inaugural Formula One Esports event last year. Aaron Irwin caught up with the reigning champion to discuss his way into sim racing, the Esports event, and his future.

    TPCO: What got you into sim racing? Also which sim did you start off on?
    BL: I started Sim racing because i watched Formula 1 on TV so when F1 2010 game came out by Codemasters it was natural for that to be my first racing simulator.
    What was going through your mind when you overtook Fabrizio on the final lap of the Grand Final?
    I cant fully remember as it was a long time ago.
    Do you feel F1 learned from the issues faced in the Vegas eRace when staging their own Esports competition?
    It is hard to say as i don’t know anything about the behind the scenes in the F1 Esports, What i do know is that experience will iron out problems so they probably did learn a little from the eRace.
    With Esports continuing to grow, do you think it has the chance to be as big as the real deal?
    Its possible, If the right people help grow the series then it can reach the same viewership but we will have to wait and see.
    There is a now famous ‘finger wagging’ gif from the Esports competition which features you, how do you feel seeing the Formula 1 community using it on race weekends?
    I highly doubt it, The finger wag is not a few thing to Formula 1 or the Motorsport world. People waving a finger is frustration isn’t a new thing so I doubt me doing will change a huge amount.
    Has your life changed at all since the Esports final? 
    Massively, I have gained a lot of self confidence from the Esports series and I have lost a lot of weight to go with that.
    Are you a big F1 fan? If so who do you think will win the title this season?
    Yes I am a big Formula 1 fan, Its hard to say who will win it. Only with pre-season testing done and none of the top teams have shown their true pace yet.
    You’ve lost an incredible amount of weight since the competition, how have you managed to do it?
    With the help from Esports+Cars and the amazing help from Simon who helps me train two times a week. That has been the main key to the weight loss, having the best team around you.
    What are you up to currently? Racing in any leagues?
    Mainly just getting my weight down and getting ready for next F1 esports series. Yes i race in the Apex Online Racing league.
    Lastly, Any advice for anyone looking to get into sim racing?
    Enjoy the time sim racing, You cant win every race but try to end each race with a smile.
    Thanks to Brendon for giving us his time to answer the questions and we wish him the best of luck in his sim racing exploits this season.

  • Qatar Race Report: Dovizioso Draws First Blood

    Andrea Dovizioso, at last, got the monkey off his back at the Losail International Circuit. In the last three years, the Italian has finished in second place at this venue. Today, Sunday March 18th, his time had come.

    Under the floodlights of the desert circuit Dovizioso (Ducati Team) produced a stunning performance, calling upon all of his experience (179 grands prix contested), guile and tactical nous to emerge victorious.

    He had to.

    Starting from the middle of the second row, the Ducati rider’s initial lunch was far from ideal. In the scramble to the first corner he was shoved and jostled down to seventh place, as the leaders initially threatened to clear off into the distance. Quickly composing himself, Dovi set about his task closing the gap back to the riders in front. Once he’d caught on he performed a series of methodical, perfectly executed overtake maneuvers. First disposing of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Ducati) at the long, ever tightening right-handed first corner, demonstrating his immense control and precision to the full. By lap 11 he had closed up onto the back of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), and the pair would duel it out for the honours for the remainder of the race. Not even a last corner lunge from Marquez would deny the Italian today. As was the case last season at Austria and Japan, the acceleration power of the Ducati was ultimately too much for the Honda on the long drag to the finish line.

    Marc Marquez left everything on the track in his quest to end Honda’s drought at the circuit. Qatar has been a difficult place for riders charged with the RC213V machine. Since the event became a night race in 2008, the factory Honda team have only celebrated victory here twice. The defending world champion had looked strong all weekend, never outside the top ten in any of the free practice sessions, and the only factory rider to make it onto the front row in qualifying. The lack of straight line speed was always going to hinder the team, but Marquez’ commitment through the corners made up much of the deficit. There was no shortage of courage either under braking. Late in the race, the Spaniard back wheel briefly locked and skidded as he forced a way past Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

    MotoGP has a way of ripping up the proverbial form book from time to time, and today was no exception. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) rounded out the podium places with a stunning ride to third place. Yamaha had been struggling all throughout the weekend in the sessions building to to the race, with the team seemingly unable to find any competitive setup for their bikes. The result of which led to both factory riders languishing in qualifying, with Rossi having to settle for P8 and on the third row. However, the nine-time world champion has long prided himself on his reputation as being a ‘Sunday Man’, and proved it once again. From the start Rossi carved his way towards the front, leading the likes of Marquez and Dovizioso early on, then holding off Crutchlow and Petrucci when the Yamaha’s tyres began to grain. Although today it was impossible for Rossi to contend for the win in the closing laps, the result is still a huge boost of confidence to the Japanese factory team going forward in the season.

    The fight behind the podium finishers was fierce and unrelenting throughout the race’s 22 lap duration. Crutchlow (P4) was the first of the independent riders across the line, finishing ahead of Petrucci and comfortably clear of veteran Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). Beating the latter will be particularly sweet for the British rider, given he is now also on equal machinery for the 2018 season. Petrucci will not be too disheartened even though his challenge faded in the closing stages of the race. The Italian has been one of the standout performers this weekend, fast across all the sessions, and his part dicing with Crutchlow and Dovizioso today will be well remembered. Who knows what might have happened if the race had been on a less abrasive surface. There is reason for plenty of confidence from the Pramac team as the world championship heads to Argentina. Alex Rins (Team Ecstar Suzuki) however, will be rueing today. The young Spanish rider secured his best grid position in MotoGP (P6) yesterday in qualifying, and for all money looked like he was on course to contend for a podium today. How cruel a mistress this sport can sometimes be. On lap 13, Rins braked off the racing line and the front tyre washed out from underneath him. The plumes of dust exploding from the track surface revealed that the rider had attempted to turn in from a point where there was no grip for the tyres. Under the lights and in the heat of battle, Rins could not have expected it. A cruel penalty which did not fit the crime.  

    A final thought must be spared for Johann Zarco. The Frenchman once again showed why he is rated so highly by both fans and the teams – Zarco has reportedly been approached in the last week by four different manufacturers eager for him to race for them next season. Starting from pole Zarco made the perfect launch and, although he could not break away from his pursuers, he led the way for 17 laps. Inevitably, tyre wear and fuel levels became serious issues. In the space of two laps, Zarco went from leading to P8 and having to fight off Andrea Iannone (Team Ecstar Suzuki). He did not appear overly disheartened after the race. The team know, as much as him, that it is only a matter of time before he breaks his duck in the premier class.

    MotoGP Top 10 Race Results:          

    1: Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) – 42’34.654

    2: Marc Marquez (Honda) – + 0.027

    3: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) – + 0.797

    4: Cal Crutchlow (Honda)

    5: Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)

    6: Maverick Vinales (Yamaha)

    7: Dani Pedrosa (Honda)

    8: Johann Zarco (Yamaha)

    9: Andrea Iannone (Suzuki)

    10: Jack Miller (Ducati)