Since Marc Marquez had to resolve to share his reign due to an injury whose consequences are still haunting him, we can see that the MotoGP field has become incredibly tight. So much so that between the official teams and the satellite teams, it has almost become the same thing. In 2020, the Petronas colors collected six victories and saw their two drivers challenge for the title. This year, it is Johann Zarco who is making the Pramac colors shine, so much so that the Frenchman is second in the provisional general classification of the championship. No doubt, but according to Marco Melandri all this is just a carefully maintained illusion. Because it’s always the same people who win in the end…
This is a theory put forward by Marco Melandri which has enough to weigh down the morale of a Johann zarco wanting to play his card to be World Champion this year. Indeed, if we follow the Italian's reasoning, the Frenchman actually has no chance. And he has nothing to do with it. On the other hand, higher interests will calm his ardor at some point in the season...
But how Marco Melandri does he come to this conclusion? With examples that are as interesting in themselves as their interpretation... He begins with the last Catalan Grand Prix where he noticed drops in race times: “ the pace was slower for everyone than we saw in testing. Quartararo in FP4 did a 1'39.5 with the hard rear tire, while in the race he did not go below 1'40. But the theme of tires, I assure you, goes back a long time, from the beginning of the 2000s. And it was much worse than now ».
The main idea laid down, Melandri developed : " last year, if we think about the races taking into account the interests of the organizer, too strange things happened. For example: a few years ago they raced on the Sachsenring and the circuit did not want to renew the agreement for the following years. They had economic problems and magically Jonas Folger was in the lead for most of the race. To the point that Marquez said he didn't know who the driver in front of him was. And these things you only do with tires ».
Melandri: the satellite team cannot go faster with its bikes than the factory who makes them”
The Italian continues… “ At one point last year they penalized Quartararo. Because even then, as if by magic, he and Franco Morbidelli slowed down for a few races due to a front tire pressure problem. And it was the same problem for the same team twice in a row. And it's impossible. This only happened because they stood to win a world championship with the satellite team, something unheard of as of 1980. And in my opinion we will never see it ". There it is, it is said…
Public chat MOW, it therefore does not predict anything good for John Zarco : " you will see. But that's normal, the satellite team pays for the motorcycles. He cannot go faster than he who makes them, that wouldn't be logical. Some races are good, but at a certain point, things have to get back to normal ". A theory to follow as the races progress in this 2021 season.
