Bagnaia Wins at Red Bull Ring

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia won in Austria, leading every lap but the first (led by his strongest opponent, Jorge Martín on Pramac Ducati) despite higher temperatures that caused front wheel locking and brake discs exceeding their operating temperature range. All MotoGP bikes carry software that constantly computes whether or not fuel will be exhausted before the checkered flag if the remaining laps consume fuel at the present rate. When the warning appears on the dash, the rider can select one of several reduced-power modes to make the fuel last. He can moderate his riding. He can pay no attention and “just go fer it.” Also on the dash are tire pressures, the front being of special importance during drafting in the hot Austrian conditions.

Martín was 3.2 seconds back at the end. He said, “…behind Pecco in the race it (front wheel locking during braking) was even worse because everything [was getting] so hot.

“So it’s kind of strange to brake and feel like crashing all the time, but we control it.”

Want to imagine drafting Bagnaia? I turned on our kitchen toaster, which draws 750 watts—almost exactly 1 horsepower’s worth of heat—and stood with my face 18 inches above it. As the stream of heated air rose into my face, I tried to imagine browning nicely behind hundreds of such toasters as you draft the leader.

This is why Ducati’s racing manager, Gianluigi Dall’Igna, said the following after Austria: “If a manual of instruction for the perfect race existed, the one put together by Pecco today would be rightfully in it. To be able to manage such a strong pace against a formidable opponent, while pulling away lap after lap and managing tire consumption at the same time is something very few riders are capable of. This happens only when the technical package, the team, and the rider work perfectly together and they’re at their best in each situation, especially with a MotoGP field as competitive as this year’s.”

Bagnaia said, “It was a really tight race. I tried to get in the lead (no toasters!) from the start as I knew I had a good pace, while trying to manage a pace that was slightly faster than Martín’s. When I saw that he had slowed down a little, I tried to keep the same rhythm for another four to five laps in order to bring my lead to at least 1.5 seconds.

“The grip level had dropped a lot and the rear was spinning picking up the bike on corner exit and it was overall hard to manage the situation, as you never know what can happen.

“I felt fast right away, from Friday. Jorge was too, but I was able to open a gap in the middle of the race.… It wasn’t easy because of the consumption of the rear tire.

“That’s what saved me in the middle of the race. When Martín raised his [speed] I was able to control.”

Martín said, “I’m a bit frustrated because I feel I had the potential to win today. Pecco seems to be a bit better at the moment.

“…from the moment I was in second I think I lost almost all my possibilities for the victory.”

In third and 7.4 seconds back was the surprise winner of the previous GP, Enea Bastianini. He had broken his string of indifferent Friday and qualifying performances to have a Bagnaia-like weekend at Silverstone. Might he do it again?

“I…suffered a lot from Friday…with the front, especially on entry.

“Pecco sometimes has an incredible braking point…brakes much later than the other riders…

“Jorge is incredible sometimes in the middle of the corner. He has a lot of speed, and sometimes with less angle.

“I think I can mix those two aspects from time to time…and I can fight with these two riders, but sometimes I have suffered, like today, and I’m a bit behind.”

Marc Márquez (Gresini Ducati) was fourth, 13.8 seconds back after having a mishap: accidentally releasing his front lowering device and thereby slowing his start.

“It’s a shame,” he said, “because the feeling all weekend was sweet.”

The origin of the problem occurred even before bikes were called to the line. The intended front wheel was found to have a broken valve and crewmen ran to Michelin to switch the tire to an intact wheel.

“…with that chaos we had with the front tire I put more attention on getting the tire temperature up and I was less concentrated on the front device.

“I engaged it, but thinking about the front temperature [the tire, pulled from the warmer, had cooled during the wheel change] I disengaged it again by putting load and pressure [on the front] to increase the temperature.”

He and Franco Morbidelli collided in the first turn and ran wide. Márquez rejoined in 13th place.

Once again, he showed his tremendous racecraft by doing what is widely thought impossible: to come through the pack, passing rider after rider, without destroying his tires in the process.

“I started to come back with patience, one step at a time, without making mistakes, and at least I had fun with some overtaking.

“…the front tire got very hot while overtaking [Jack] Miller (P19, KTM) and I couldn’t brake where I wanted to.

“…I know this is a year to build and I’m building that confidence and advancing one step at a time.”

Despite the above drama, this running of the Austrian MotoGP is being called “the most boring race of the year.”

Boring.

Imagine we are on the set of a wildly popular TV drama series, taking it in at first hand. Now imagine that our point of view pulls back, back through the interior walls of the production studio, back through the outer walls, to a position on the opposite sidewalk. We set up a camera here, aimed at the building we’ve just left. We tape this for 45 minutes. The excitement? Occasionally we see an actor, agent, or producer pass through the doors. Wahoo.

This is all that most race fans allow themselves. They don’t know much about racing or racers. All they see is bikes buzzing around a track. If there are not constant thrills (daring overtakes and crashes), they switch entertainment channels to a police drama (sounding like life-testing of military small arms) or a cookery shootout (humiliated losers weep in best Method Acting style).

Novice racers are natural fan-pleasers. Being beginners, novice riders wheelie a lot, bump into each other, tip over, or run off the track. A thrill a minute, but at the level of carnival bump-’em cars.

Racing is what it is. Efforts to turn it into something else can backfire. When originally created, Moto2, with its spec engines eliminating engine development, was predicted to “unleash a storm of chassis innovation.” The teams soon found out which chassis worked best and every team bought them, resulting in identical rolling chassis, propelled by identical engines. With nothing to modify, the innovation took place in the riding itself—learning to go fast without tearing up your tires. In the case of Marc Márquez, I saw from the lap times at his first German MotoGP that his tire drop occurred laps later than those of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. His method of tire management let him go faster, longer before having to “go into tire management” to stay on two wheels to the flag.

Some fans deplore “Ducati domination.” After years of also-ran status, Ducati Corse got on the stick and produced its present excellent MotoGP bikes. Should it “slow down and make a race of it” as one fan suggested? Or do the slower teams have the responsibility of improving their equipment and team operations?

Current MotoGP points standings:

Aragon is in two weeks: August 30–September 1.