What makes a World Champion in MotoGP? Logic would dictate it’s a combination of several key factors. The rider has to be strong, fast, willing to take risks but aware that a season is built on your worst weekends more so than your best. Their bike must be competitive, and they must ride it to the limit of it’s capabilities in order to succeed. They have to beat their opponents when it counts, survive the mental pressures of leading the championship, and believe in themselves more than anyone else.
When Fabio Quartararo entered the MotoGP grid in 2019, he set the world alight with his surprising and brilliant results, and it was clear he already had several of these champion requirements checked off. He was fast, and committed, and the bike underneath him was a solid package, but he lacked experience and made mistakes. When he returned in 2020, it seemed as though he had found the missing pieces, but this time he was let down by his mental fortitude or lack thereof. Despite starting the season off with back-to-back wins, Quartararo faded down the order as the year went on, unable to match the consistency of his rivals.
Knowing that he was close to this goal of perfection, Quartararo returned in 2021 as a new man. Gone were the inconsistencies, the self-doubt, the win it or bin it mentality he had held previously. This version of Quartararo was totally in control, and the way he stormed to the title reflects just how much he grew in a single off season. The pieces had finally all come together for the Frenchman. Not only was he fast, not only was his bike good, but he was beating his opponents on pretty much every axis. He survived the pressures of his opponents, and became champion of the world in 2021.
Why am I bringing all this up? Because on Sunday in Catalunya, Quartararo produced yet another performance worthy of a world champion. The 23-year-old defied all odds on a weekend that looked set to be dominated by one of his key rivals and took a six-second win, his second of the season and tenth since stepping up to MotoGP. Despite being on a Yamaha that has been underperforming in the hands of every other rider on board this year, and despite being surrounded on the grid by faster Ducatis at a circuit with a mammoth start/finish straight, Quartararo controlled the race from the front and stamped his authority on this year’s championship in the process.
When you look at the stats for this year, it’s genuinely incredible that he’s able to produce performances like this. Quartararo has taken every single point Yamaha has scored in this year’s constructors championship, often finishing ten or more places ahead of the second-best Yamaha rider and getting results out of the bike that simply didn’t look possible at the start of the season. When the year kicked off in Qatar the Frenchman complained of a lack of horsepower leaving him trailing the other bikes on the grid, but at some point he clearly stopped complaining and simply got to work. Quartararo understands the Yamaha better than anyone else on the grid right now, and he’s using his key knowledge to abuse the bike in ways no-one else could dream of doing.
It was also an impressive result because everyone was certain another rider would win on Sunday. Local hero Aleix Espargaro looked fast in every free practice session, and took his second pole position of the season on Saturday afternoon with a lap record to boot. Given the sheer consistency the Aprilia rider has shown of late, it seemed like an obvious result that he would storm away on Sunday and take his second win of the season. Instead, he found himself seconds behind Quartararo and in a fierce battle with Jorge Martin for second and third.
Then, everything unravelled for him with one lap to go. Aleix slowed on the run down to turn 1, and everyone watching assumed his bike had malfunctioned, cruelly stripping him of a podium opportunity at his home grand prix. The true answer was a tad more embarrassing – Aleix had miscounted the number of laps remaining, and thought the race was over already. Waving to his fans, he cruised around the first chicane before realising those around him still had their heads down and were racing away. The Aprilia rider was able to salvage a fifth place, but was crestfallen by the mistake and looked inconsolable when he returned to pit lane.
That left Martin and teammate Zarco to bag the remaining podium positions. For Zarco, this represents his third podium of the season as he remains surprisingly high in the standings thanks to his sheer consistency so far. For Martin, it was a necessary result, the Spaniard having scored no points in five of the eight previous races in a rather disappointing first half of the season. Despite starting the season off as a championship favourite, Martin now finds himself mired down the order, and in desperate need of some more points finishes to restore his confidence.
Notably, two names I haven’t mentioned so far are Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini. The two Italians crashed out of the race in Catalunya, with Bastianini dropping the ball for the second week running and Bagnaia being wiped out on the first turn through no fault of his own. With Quartararo taking the full 25 points available, both Italians were punished to the absolute maximum this weekend, and now fall more than 50 points behind the championship leader. It’s a long championship this year – we still have eleven races to go, including seven in Europe and the infamous Asian flyaways – but results like this continue to put doubt to either of them being able to challenge for the title this season.
It’s worth commenting on the silly season cogs at play this weekend. Quartararo started his time in Catalunya off right with an announcement of his re-signing with Yamaha for the next two seasons, essentially reinforcing himself as their one shining light for the future. Despite an announcement being absent, there was also strong reason to believe a deal is now done for Jack Miller to migrate to KTM for next year. These factory positions falling into place felt inevitable given the current situation at both manufacturers, but they don’t fix the mess of the overall picture. Many teams are still courting multiple riders for their remaining slots, and until some of the big players fall into place we won’t have a strong idea of what the final grid will look like.
Thankfully, we now get a week off to digest all of this. After that, we head to Sachsenring to crown a new king in Marc Marquez’s absence, and the TT Assen to round out the first half of the season. Once we get to the end of June, we may even have an idea of who will fight for the championship in the second half – but right now, it sure does appear to be going one way only.
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