For this Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, we could have observed the racing paces of the fastest, as we usually do. We would have seen that Álex Rins on medium/medium tires was the fastest, on the seventh lap of the second race, more than half a second faster than Pol Espargaró who led the first race, also with a medium tire at the rear.
But in fact, the latter no longer had any available at the time of the second race, following the atypical strategy of passing two during the warmup.
The KTM rider therefore had to fall back on a soft rear tire for the second race. We then see that, at least on the Catalan rider's KTM, the soft rubber performed better for five laps before the trend reversed, causing both errors and the annoyance of the number 44.
The rest, we know it: Pol Espargaró got angry at not having the same pace as in the first race and ended up widening in several corners, allowing Miguel Oliveira to make an attempt to overtake which was poorly finished...
The primary cause of the spectacle of the two RC16s on the ground therefore lies in a bet made by the Spaniard during the warmup, obviously not imagining that there would be two starts on Sunday afternoon.
For safety reasons, drivers always keep a reserve tire, called a back-up, in case such an event occurs.
Not here…
Why didn't Pol Espargaró start with the tire used in the first race? Technically he could have done it, because many drivers kept the same front tire, and Bradley Smith left with the same rear tire, just like his brother Aleix left with a rear worn out from 3 laps.
But the fiery rider who was aiming for victory on KTM land undoubtedly estimated that the soft tire would be more efficient overall for a second race reduced to 20 laps.
This was his second mistake...
