Twenty-four crashes in three days, five riders in the hospital, four who will be out in the next race (Pol Espargaró, Marc Márquez, Enea Bastianini and Miguel Oliveira) and reproaches and cross attacks between the actors. The war report of the first Grand Prix of the year is not very encouraging. The drivers attribute this to the “new format” of the weekend, that is to say, the introduction of the Sprint test on Saturday, the conversion of free practice on Friday into mini qualifying sessions, rather than preparation, and the stress of a schedule tighter in schedules.
After the Portimão race, in which there were five crashes, including Marc Márquez’s strike, many riders exploded with rage and impotence. Because of the 93 manoeuvre, but also because it was the epilogue of a very tense weekend, with too many risks and aggressiveness on the track.
“Don’t think that the falls on Friday were because we are in Portimão. They went for the new format, because on Friday afternoon we have to play the pass, and we are not ready yet; there were nine crashes, one red flag…”, said Aleix Espargaró annoyed, who after Sunday’s race modulated the critics and shifted his sights: “I don’t think it’s a question of format; It’s our fault, the pilots’.
As Espargaró sees, “everyone has been very aggressive”, as a result of the demand. “With four riders in the hospital this weekend I get the feeling that we are not learning. After the crashes on Friday and Saturday, people started the race just the same, Binder hit me, everyone was very aggressive, Mir had to pay long-lap and his first lap was crazy, it seemed like he was bowling . We have not understood anything, why are you going to kill three more. I don’t understand”.
Marc Márquez admitted that the focus of the GP has changed for the drivers. “It has been a discarded weekend, practically; Several riders have been injured, I don’t know if I can attribute it to the new format, but I do take a lot of risk with this new GP format”. According to the man from Cervera, “when doing a race on Saturday and another on Sunday, the risk is greater”, since the drivers go out more aggressively to hunt points in the two races, and before it was only one.
“Also doing a test here has made everything more even. In the next races everything will not be so even and it will not go so far to the limit. Today has gone much faster than any other year here. But we have to adapt to it.”
If the Sprint on Saturday was a delight for the spectator, a great success for the show due to the condensation of fights and overtaking, it was very hard for the drivers. Because of the novelty, because of the stress, because of the tension, because of the accumulation of events… “On Saturday I ended up mentally exhausted; My day was long, many commitments with the media…”, commented Pecco Bagnaia.
The Italian was referring to the multitude of commitments. They are not just training sessions and technical meetings, they have to attend the media five times (TV and then the press), sponsors, the public with the Hero Walk…
“It’s crazy”, they say from the ’93 team. Marc, on Saturday after the Sprint, had to attend 10 television stations in the Broadcasters area (TV and radio with rights), then go to the official press conference, skip the scrum (canutazo) in Spanish because he did not reach two acts with sponsors, and he could not meet with his technical team until 5:30 in the afternoon. “They will have to adapt these schedules,” they say from the Repsol Honda Team.
“It’s complicated at the timetable level,” admits Jorge Martín. “You do the pole and then the corralito [attention to TV and radio with rights], then the press conference… We have many things and we don’t have time to eat, to digest, you leave swollen in the race. It would be nice to think a little more about the pilot because then in the end you can’t do everything. It is simply talking about it and trying to modify something ”, asked the Madrid rider of the Pramac Ducati.
