Like the Doha Grand Prix, the Portuguese Grand Prix was beautiful, even if it offered us a very different spectacle.
We therefore wanted to come back to it and, among the thousand ways of doing so, we chose to focus on the duel which opposed for victory fabio quartararo et Alex Rins.
The first line consisted of Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins, Johann Zarco, the second of Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli and Marc Marquez.
When the red lights went out, both riders reacted with the same reflex time but, immediately, the Suzuki took precedence over the Yamaha. As a reminder, the GSX-RR has a holeshot device only at the front, the YZR-M1 only at the rear. These are the only two brands that do not have one (for the moment) on the front and rear.
The two drivers almost touched each other but Álex Rins took command of the race, undoubtedly benefiting from better mapping and/or better clutch release (see article here).
At the end of the straight, Fabio Quartararo was first overtaken by Jack Miller then braked very cautiously and was passed by Marc Márquez, while Johann Zarco took command thanks to the power of his Ducati. At the first corner, we therefore have Johann Zarco in front of Álex Rins, Jack Miller, Marc Márquez and Fabio Quartararo.
In the third corner, Johann Zarco widens which slows everyone down a little except Joan Mir who takes the opportunity to pass Fabio Quartararo. In turn five, helicopter images show that Marc Márquez and Jack Miller almost make contact, which seems to destabilize the Australian who is overtaken by Joan Mir. A few hundred meters later, he also took the advantage over Marc Márquez on the right before the slide.
On the first pass, we therefore observe Johann Zarco in front of Álex Rins, Joan Mir really author of an excellent first lap, Marc Márquez, Jack Miller and Fabio Quartararo.
In the next round, Marc Márquez almost fell on Joan Mir, which bothered Jack Miller and what Fabio Quartararo takes advantage of to pass the Honda and the Ducati. The track is clear for the Frenchman, unlike Álex Rins who stumbles on the Ducati of Johann Zarco.
During laps two and three, the Yamaha therefore regained ground on the Suzuki, or rather on the two Suzukis wedged behind Johann Zarco, which allowed Fabio Quartararo to overtake Joan Mir at the end of the straight at the start of the fourth round. A few turns further, Álex Rins gets the better of Johann Zarco, and everyone loses a little time in the operation.
The Ducati goes all out in the straight and regains the lead before losing a few turns further not only to the Suzuki but also to the Yamaha.
At the cost of very delayed braking, Fabio Quartararo retained his second position at the end of the straight but lost ground on the Suzuki which, alone in the lead, accelerated in 1'40.190.
From there, Fabio Quartararo gradually accelerates his pace to 1'39.472, losing only a little time on the eighth lap by overtaking Álex Rins.
The Suzuki rider takes a bit of the blow then pulls himself together and the war between the two Japanese motorcycles is declared: Despite the wear of the tires, the pace continues to accelerate until the 17th lap where Fabio Quartararo achieves 1'39.472 and Álex Rins the lap record in 1'39.471!
In the next passage, Álex Rins continues to attack and sets the best lap in the race in 1'39.450 thanks to his two best sectors T2 and T4 while Fabio Quartararo is satisfied with an already very fast 1'39.532.
Did the Suzuki rider push too hard? Still, he will not finish the 19th lap by falling at turn #5, allowing Fabio Quartararo to relax his effort a little and head towards victory after going off the track in sector 1 at the 20th. turn (decrease in concentration?).
According to Álex Rins, no mistakes were made, arguing that the data analysis showed nothing wrong.
Alex Rins : “It's a real shame because we analyzed the data from the crash and I didn't do anything wrong in that corner: Same braking point, same pressure on the brakes. But yes, it happens sometimes.”
Note, however, that the preceding lap was the one where he achieved the best lap of the race. The limit couldn't have been very far... and Shinichi Sahara only had one terse comment in the parc ferme on this subject: “Alex got faster and faster and… (Fall). Sometimes we have to learn from that. »
UNSEEN: The conversations and congratulations you didn't get to see post-race on Sunday in Portimao! 👀#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/6aA8E8LcIG
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) April 24, 2021
But beyond that, what we especially notice is that the two pilots were not only very fast and very correct during their confrontation, but also extremely regular with consecutive times generally contained within two tenths of a second.
Hats off to these two drivers, with of course great respect for the mastery demonstrated by Fabio Quartararo, but also a thought for Álex Rins who lost everything after a magnificent performance...
