MotoGP Austria: Valentino Rossi, escaped third place. Lap times

The MotoGP that brought the general public back to the stands in Styria is another thing from previous races with empty stands due to Covid: it vibrates and vibrates, finding itself again. Like another thing, for the many in the stands and in front of the TV, it is to have found Valentino Rossi among the protagonists at least in the last five laps in the wet, in a thrilling finale among the riders who had been the dominators in the dry for 23 laps. and then, “dragged” by Marc Marquez due to the steadily increasing rain, returned to the pits to change tires, and the others who, “copying” Rossi, decided to finish the race with slicks, in search of the bang.

It is not just the nature of the champion

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In these cases, beyond the driver’s instinct, to decide what to do is the ability to put the pros and cons on the two scales: on the one hand, those like Quartararo but also Marquez and Bagnaia had nothing to gain , especially from the point of view of the championship, continuing to take risks in the wet with slicks, and on the other hand, those who could afford the “go or break”, having nothing to lose even in the event of a fall. The “flag-to-flag” left to the will of the driver (and the team) is questionable because, as on this occasion, he can change the cards on the table by also modifying the real values ​​on the field. On the other hand, in addition to avoiding the interruption or early end of the race, the show increases, especially the television one.

What a sight, but beware of safety

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Above all, however, safety must prevail which, with this flag-to-flag leaves something to be desired: for the speed of the bike change in the garage without a minimum time and also for the additional risks that the riders run for themselves. continue with slicks and the riders returning to the track with rain tires. It is a delicate issue that needs to be re-discussed, at least by filing down some details, such as the minimum time for changing tires. This problem, evidently, did not exist at the time of Giacomo Agostini, with the pear-shaped Dunlops the same for everyone and always the same for dry and wet. Just as it was not posed, in the absence of “this” flag-to-flag, when it was the display of the red flag (race direction) to force everyone to return to the pits. On the track, Binder proved to be the acrobat who puts on a show and achieves results. But hats off to Bagnaia, Quartararo, Marc Marquez. The latter, albeit indirectly, reproduced on the track – this time only with the stopwatch – the duel with his great opponent of the past, Valentino Rossi.

The analysis of the times

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Congratulations to Marquez who, before the rain, from lap 18 to lap 23, was flying, with times that foreshadowed at least the podium, if not the final victory. Lap 18: Marquez in third position +0.424 from the first: 1’24.637 (he is the fastest on the track); Rossi in 14th position at +13.085 from the first: 1’25.028. Lap 19: Marquez (third): 1’24.732 (still the fastest on the track); Rossi (14th) at +13.365 from the first: 1’25.086. Lap 20: Marquez (second at 0.195 from the first): 1’24.800, second best time for three thousandths; Rossi (14th) at + 13.606 from the head: 1’25.196. Lap 21: Marquez (second at 0.094): 1’24.709, second best time at +0.094: Rossi (14th) at +13.894 from the first: 1’25.098. Lap 22: Marquez (second at +0.127): 1’26.078; Rossi (13th) at +14.274: 1’26.425.

The arrival of the rain

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Lap 23: Marquez (second at +0.234): 1’27.105 (therefore over a second slower than the previous lap due to the beginning of the rain); Rossi (12th) at +13.842 from the first: 1’26.566 (only a tenth and a half slower than the previous lap). Lap 24: Marquez (second at +0.073): 1’27.882 (two and a half seconds slower than two laps before); Rossi (tenth at +12.652): 1’26.853 (therefore one second faster than Marquez). Lap 25: Marquez (third at +2.972): 1’36.836 (ten seconds slower than dry laps with slicks); Rossi (10th at +10.480): 1’31.765 (five seconds slower than his previous lap but third fastest time); Lap 26: Marquez (tenth at +31.300): 2’02.808 (the fastest among the riders with rain tires but five seconds slower than Rossi (third at + 13.622 from the first) who scores 1’37.620, second best total time lap 26. Lap 27: Marquez crashes and on his return (16th, penultimate) laps in 1’58.128; Rossi (fifth at + 17,067 from the first): 1’42.901 against 1’34-1’35 of the best pursuers returned with rain tires. Lap 28: winner Binder laps in 1’50.321; Marquez (15th at + 38.459 from Binder): 1’38.808; Rossi (eighth at the finish line at + 20.150 from the winner): 1’53.404, that is, in a little more lap it would have been picked up by Marquez.

History is not made with ifs

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And, as always, in motorcycling the order of arrival counts. Honor, therefore, to the winner Binder and also to Rossi eighth and to those who, like Rossi, chose not to return to the box to change tires, playing the wild card. An “enterprise” that of the Doctor of Tavullia? In the past, Valentino’s “races-companies” have been many others, who in any case deserved the demonstrations of exultation in the stands (and not only) of people who wanted to pay the salute that the champion from Pesaro deserves, regardless of the results of race and how these results arrive: a “Thank you Vale!” for 25 years and passes of a career that has marked the history of great motorcycling. To say, or to write, that Rossi – in the end of the third race for half a lap when the real rulers (Bagnaia, Marquez, Quartararo etc.) were stopped in the box for the tire change – was on the podium, he can answer the news because he is still a little more 4 km from the checkered flag on the dashboard was written “3” so much so that Valentino said “When I saw the 3 I got it on myself”. But emphasizing this eighth place does not honor the truth of a race that is in any case of great spectacle and, why not, of great technical and competitive value and above all it does not honor the legend of Valentino Rossi who does not need bias and forcing.

Champion also for truth and fairness

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We must acknowledge Valentino who, with intellectual honesty, said: “Not returning to the box to change tires does not mean that at that moment I had decided to take risks because when you are on the bike you only try to do what you think is best for the result. . It is always an instinct decision. When I saw P3 on the board two laps from the end, I was scared, I stiffened and went wide ”. Here you are. This is the champion. Also of correctness and truth. Thus, Valentino finds his ironic smile for a result below the top ten which, however, does not cancel the first part of the season that has never been so negative, even if it gives him the drive and motivation to get to the great Misano party before the farewell to racing. .