Bagnaia falls again, the race is won by Álex Rins. On the podium Marini and a splendid Quartararo.
– Bagnaia has destroyed a capital advantage. Two crashes in three races, while he was in second and first position, are mistakes that weigh heavily. Closing one out of three races when your principals don’t even line up on the grid (we’re referring to Bastianini and Marquez) is an original sin. Worse still if you think that the two zeros are due to rookie errors. The damage is estimated at 45 potential points more, chand they would have already created the first void in the standings. A gap that, just in the third race, could have already been unbridgeable. After last season’s finale, which was incredible especially in terms of reliability and maturity, we didn’t expect Bagnaia to fall back on it. But so be it. You have to get up and quickly;
– The Austin race, therefore, bequeaths us a “human” Bagnaia. Yesterday, in closed park after the sprint race, Pecco had seemed almost annoyingly fresh, while his opponents, Martin in primis, seemed demolished by fatigue. Austin’s crash, after his slip on the wet in Argentina, on the other hand, leaves us with a still incomplete rider with his fragility. What seemed to be the perfect combination at the start of the championship is, in reality, anything but unshakeable, considering Pecco’s mistakes and Ducati’s non-totalitarianism this weekend;
– Had Bagnaia won, they would have been ready to write that the sprint race kills the World Championship. Had it not been for his indiscipline, Bagnaia tonight could have had something like 100 points ahead of Bastianini, 80 over Marquez and 50 over Quartararo and Vinales. On the eve of the European races, an almost unbridgeable gap. The riders forced not to take part due to injuries were penalized too much, the already strong riders benefited too much. It would be interesting to think of a points system that recalls that of 1976, where the four worst races out of ten did not “rank”. Perhaps a little extreme, but leaving a couple of wildcard races to the riders would allow them to be able to recover without worries from particular injuries and would probably allow for a more balanced final classification;
– Álex Rins’ race was a show. The smile on Lucio Cecchinello’s face testifies to how unexpected the Spanish rider’s victory was. A well-deserved victory, moreover, by the former Suzuki centaur, who also won thanks to the pressure put on Bagnaia from the start, forcing him to make the decisive mistake. The race in Texas is his favourite, this is his second success after the one two years ago on the Suzuki. However, on board the Honda LCR, no one would have expected this success, especially considering how unreliable the Japanese bike had shown up to now. He chose a different loom than the one developed by Marx and won. Is he the right rider to focus on for the future for Honda?
– Well, indeed very well Fabio Quartararo. His great talent and his experience allowed him to limit the damage in these three races in which his Yamaha proved to be considerably inferior to its competitors. Watching him fight like a lion is a show for lovers of this sport. The pilots of the Mooney VR46 were also goodwith Marini who was author of an excellent second place (first podium for him in the top class) and Bezzecchi who, thanks also to a series of lucky circumstances, managed to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings. Bad KTM and Aprilia, from which we sincerely expected a better start to the championship.