There were plenty of riders one could have predicted to win in Portimao on Sunday. The Suzuki of Joan Mir looked menacing from the front row, a rare sight indeed for the 2020 world champion. Despite their lack of consistency recently, the Ducatis of Zarco and Miller would have been a fair shout. Even Marc Marquez starting from the third row looked like a reasonable bet, though he had only raced here once previously. The 8-times champion is a hard man to bet against on the best of days, and was only starting so low because his pole lap was scrubbed due to yellow flags.
But surely there were few who were betting on Fabio Quartararo. On paper, it did seem plausible: the Frenchman won here in 2020, is the reigning world champion, and was fastest in morning warmup, the only dry session of the weekend. Yet one has to consider his results so far this season, and those results have not been good. Quartararo has been suffering, unable to make the Yamaha work for him and putting massive amounts of effort in only to wind up mid-pack. It just didn’t seem possible for him to take a victory with the bike underneath him.
If anything, this makes what he did on Sunday all the more impressive. Fabio stormed home to a 4+ second win, setting blistering pace out the front of the race that no other rider could match. He wasn’t just fast, he was consistent, drilling out 1:39s for fun and gapping the riders battling for the podium. It was a performance reminiscent of his run of form at the start of 2021, which set him up so well for the championship that year. He was on a level above everyone else, not because of the bike underneath him, but despite it.
You need only look at the other Yamaha riders to drive this point home. Dovizioso and Morbidelli limped home to 11th and 13th, scoring measly points in the process, but were surely aided by the riders who crashed out ahead of them. Darryn Binder finished outside of the points and never once looked to be on form with the riders ahead of him. Quartararo is now responsible for every single point Yamaha has scored in the constructor’s championship, and is a full 14 places above the next-best Yamaha in the world championship standings right now.
This is both a blessing and a curse for Yamaha. As the current leader of the world championship and reigning King of MotoGP, Quartararo represents incredibly hot property on the rider market for 2023. He’s doing a phenomenal job of covering up the glaring weaknesses of the Yamaha right now, and should he continue on this form could even have a title bid this year. If Yamaha somehow manage to keep him, then they have a genuine chance at fixing the situation they’re in. Problem is, just about every other manufacturer on the grid is going to try and poach him for next season after the performance in Portimao.
The rest of the podium places were decided in short order behind the flying Frenchman. Johann Zarco took a safe second place ahead of Aleix Espargaro, both of whom have now taken two podium finishes from the opening five races. This puts them both soundly into the championship hunt, less than 20 points behind the current leaders and arguably two of the more surprisingly consistent riders of late. Zarco thought he could have done better, but admitted that Fabio was on another level on Sunday. Aleix looked pleased just to be in the mix, but continues to reward Aprilia for their hard work on the bike.
It was a much less sunny Sunday for Jack Miller and Joan Mir. Mir got off to the best start of the front group but was quickly reeled in by the superior pace of Quartararo, while Miller got into a good spot of rhythm and started to hunt down the riders ahead of him. With Mir in his sights, the Aussie took a plunge into turn one, and didn’t come out the other side. Miller crashed, bailing Mir out of the race in the process, and effectively gifting the podium positions that remained to Zarco and Aleix. It was a controversial clash, reminiscent of Bagnaia and Martin earlier in the season, and one that Miller admits was entirely his fault.
It’s too bad for Miller, who was looking to take his second podium on the trot, but I’m most heartbroken for Mir. The Spaniard was on course for yet another impressive performance, either a podium or a top five, and it would have had him right in championship contention despite his lack of podium form so far this season. Instead, the former champion now finds himself over twenty points adrift of the leaders, and that seems like an unjust punishment given how well he performed all weekend. To have a strong qualifying result and good race pace but have your race ended early by another rider is one of the harshest ways a weekend can go.
Two other riders worth mentioning were Alex Rins and Pecco Bagnaia. Bagnaia had the worst Saturday of his season so far, taking a tumble in Q1 before he had even set a lap and dooming himself to the back of the grid in the process. Thankfully, he was cleared to race come Sunday, and the Italian did not disappoint. Bagnaia gained a whopping sixteen places over the course of the race, and came across the line in P8 to take the second best result for Ducati. It was a gritty ride, and something that he really needed to do in order to prove his potential to the rest of the grid heading into the European rounds.
If Bagnaia’s comeback was impressive, then Rins’ was downright phenomenal. The Suzuki rider started the race in P23 but made up thirteen places on the first lap alone, and came across the finish line in fourth. Sure, he was aided by the crash between Miller and Mir, but to finish a MotoGP race nineteen positions higher than where you started is a genuinely unbelievable result, and one that will be remembered for quite some time. In addition, the result keeps him firmly in title contention, as the Spaniard now finds himself level on points with Quartararo at the very top of the standings. Make no mistake, Rins is a real threat for the title this year, and he looks to be on a kick of form that not even his teammate Mir can match.
As predicted, despite being the first European race of the season, the Portimao grand prix was nothing short of manic. Hopefully, when I sit down to write about the Jerez race in a week’s time, I will have some calm and placid race results to discuss. That said, this is 2022 MotoGP, and something tells me we’re in for a lot more surprises before the season ends in November. Only time will tell, I suppose.
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