For once, Valentino Rossi is the first classified Yamaha at the end of the Styrian Grand Prix which took place today on the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria. The Doctor thus finished 9th, when his cadets Fabio Quartararo was in 13th place and Franco Morbidelli finished in 15th position. And what about the unfortunate Maverick Viñales who had to eject himself from his motorbike to save his skin following a brake failure?
Once again, the MotoGP spectacle was grandiose. A tumultuous race under cover of a red flag with the terrible ejection of Maverick Vinales faced with a motorcycle in distress, because it had no brakes, launched at more than 200 km/h, crashing against the airfences and instantly catching fire..A tragedy narrowly avoided, once again..
The turmoil passed with the second departure, Valentino Rossi was able to stay in the game for the remaining twelve rounds. The Italian knew, starting from 15th position on the starting grid, that it would be difficult to get to the front, especially on a track that has been ignoring the Yamahas for several years, preferring the Ducati, Andrea Dovizioso being three times winner in these hostile lands: 2017, 2019 and 2020
The Doctor comments on his race: “ we knew we would be in difficulty on this circuit because top speed is important here and this year the difference is big. We are working to find solutions, but little has changed since last year. On the long straight we suffered a lot. Last week I was fifth, but there were a lot of accidents. This weekend, everyone resolved the issues and was able to go even faster. It's difficult because the problems remain similar to those encountered last year. It is also true that we are more efficient on other tracks ».
Valentino Rossi discusses the brake problem encountered by his teammate Maverick Vinales: «As for the brakes, I had identical problems last week, but that was not the case during this race. It's a track where the brakes are put to the test and everyone suffers. All have large air intakes in the brakes. Yamaha suffers a lot because we try to compensate for what we lose in speed when braking and we therefore request the brakes even more"
Asked about the good shape of the Suzukis, the man from Tavullia replied: “ The Suzukis were very impressive these last two weekends they have worked hard for this. They have more grip when accelerating and are faster. The management of the green part is uncontrollable in my opinion, you should never put the wheel there. We play it because we know that we can go there 3 or 4 times before being sanctioned. In my opinion, if you touch this green part, you must systematically lose a position. For the commissioners, it is not easy, they are under pressure after the story of Johann zarco, but they need to be more consistent in their decisions.
Jorge Martin rode in the green part last weekend and nothing was said to him because the rule says if you have more than three seconds it doesn't count and that's stupid. Today he went back and they punished him by demoting him one position, which made him lose the victory. The rule must be the same for everyone and must not be interpreted. During the MotoGP race, another interpretation was made, because Espargaro Pol went to the green part and he was not sanctioned »
The world championship remains open because every weekend a new winner climbs to the top of the podium even if Fabio Quartararo is, for the moment, the leader. «A very interesting situation is emerging for the championship » evokes Rossi. He continues: “Who knows who will win it? Those who seem favorites are experiencing difficulties at the moment. I don't know if Quartararo is feeling the pressure or suffering from technical problems. I hope our bike does well in Misano. It's an unpredictable world championship because the bikes that were previously in the background have improved, KTM AND Suzuki. There are therefore four bikes that can fight for victory and that redistributes the cards. It's really interesting"
Full standings Styrian Grand Prix in Austria at the Red Bull Ring:
