MotoGP: after Silverstone, Quartararo sees Bagnaia as the danger who is considered an ally by Aleix Espargaró while Viñales comes to add his two cents

The promoters of the MotoGP championship would have wanted to shape the appearance of the current title race according to their idea, by penalizing Fabio Quartararo at Assen with a sanction to be honored at Silverstone, but they would not have gone about it any better. The situation, the day after this British Grand Prix, promises an indecisive final part of the season which other events in England have certainly also influenced. The Frenchman, defending champion and still at the top of the provisional ranking, became aware of this by putting Pecco Bagnaia at the top of his concerns. For his part, the devalued Aleix Espargaró also analyzes a new situation in which his teammate Maverick Viñales will have to be seriously taken into account as a referee of choice, if he continues to take the big points on the podium...

We will not delve into conspiracy theory, but we will still take this long lap story into account when the time comes to take stock. The compatriot Johann zarco has already presented the disciplinary sanction as a political lever of choice for the promoters of the championship. The latter only have to look at the experience of Formula 1 to understand the whole point of reshuffling the cards when the overly favorable hand of a favorite promises a premature end to the game, to the detriment of the interest of the game. until its end.

The fact that the Yamaha was going to find himself in great difficulty once returned to the peloton was known, and it did indeed happen. fabio quartararo had to suffer in England and limit the damage. This was more or less done, but other events intervened that the apprentice sorcerers could not have foreseen. The first was the big accident ofAleix Espargaró who could have stopped there this year after this violent fall during FP4 which today revealed a fracture a fracture in the heel of the right foot : « I crashed really hard, I was a little impatient with the hard tire, it was 100% my fault » recognizes the pilot April.

Race, fabio quartararo the punished finished eighth just ahead Aleix Espargaró the broken one, all for a point won for the Frenchman. All that for this ? Not really. During this time, Pecco Bagnaia won his fourth victory on a track that Yamaha loves it and where the Frenchman won victory in 2021. All before the Red Bull Ring, a circuit where the Ducati have been releasing their cavalry successfully since 2016. The Italian had resumed 25 points for the tricolor in Assen, he still nibbled away 17 at Silverstone, which gives us a comeback of 42 points in two races.

Quartararo and Bagnaia would have done without this return of Viñales which can reassure Aleix Espargaró

This obviously did not escape Fabio Quartararo who commented at the finish of this twelfth of the twenty rounds on the calendar: “ I see Pecco more as a rival than Aleix at the moment ". So it's overAleix Espargaro ? Probably not and firstly because the factory Aprilia can now play the double impact... On the relative disrepute of Fabio Quartararo, the second in the championship to 22 points replied: “ GOOD ! It's important that Pecco gets closer: he's not someone who thinks about second place, he wants to win. So he puts more pressure on Fabio and that's an advantage for me. The one who should lose the championship is the leader, not me. The championship is open, you have to be consistent and mentally strong ».

From this point of view, the thirty-year-old pilot is. Jorge Lorenzo has also paid tribute to him since Silverstone : " we cannot deny that Aleix tries to the end, always, and it is a quality that he has and that he is showing this year. At Assen he had a legendary race, and at Silverstone he almost did it again. When the race is over, you should always try to see the glass half full, and surely when things cool down a little, Aleix will be happy to have only lost a single point to Fabio ». Jorge Lorenzo ends on Dazn. “ I'm sure that inside he must be thinking that it's a real shame to see Fabio finish eighth and not be able to take advantage of this opportunity to take away a lot of points from him, or even get very close to him. Because if he had won the race, he would have very little behind the Frenchman ».

Finally, what no one had probably really considered is that this menage a trois in the championship would have to be disrupted by a fourth thief: Maverick Vinales. We will have to see what the Top Gun will do on the RS-GP at the Red Bull Ring, because Assen, where he finished third, and Silverstone where he finished second while attempting victory with a view to the finish, are his favorite routes. But all the same, he is there, taking big points which are no longer distributed between three, and we are waiting for him at the turning point when it comes to showing his much vaunted team spirit at Aprilia … All this couldn't really have been premeditated, but it always happens when you open Pandora's box. Looking forward to Austria in a little less than two weeks to find out the rest of this thrilling soap opera.

MotoGP Silverstone Championship: ranking (12/20)

Credit classification motogp.com