Episode 233 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the British GP at Silverstone.
On the mics, we have David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they cover what turned out to be a very eventful weekend in Austria.
The guys cover a busy weekend in the UK, and start things off with a discussion of Quartararo’s win, and whether it means he has the 2022 title in the bag, or whether a crash like he had in FP2 could still stop him in his tracks.
It has been a busy day at the Misano circuit. At a private test organized by Ducati, Maverick Viñales got his first taste of the Aprilia RS-GP, Franco Morbidelli rode a superbike again for the first time, and factory test riders carried on with the work of testing developments on the MotoGP machines.
In the dying minutes of the Q2 session for MotoGP, it looked like we were witnessing a miracle. Jorge Martin flashed through the second sector nearly a second and a half up on the best time at that point.
If he kept up that pace, he would be on his way to destroying the Silverstone pole record held by Marc Marquez, set on the newly resurfaced track back in 2019.
Martin looked to be on his way to being the first rider to break the 1’58 barrier and lap the track in the 1’57s.
It’s only Friday, so the times don’t mean all that much. You don’t win MotoGP races on Friday. But you can certainly lose them, and even lose championships if you’re not careful. Especially on a Friday.
That was the lesson of Silverstone, as both Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo found to their cost. Marc Marquez had a fairly simple lowside, but managed to do so at 274 km/h at one of the fastest parts of the circuit.
Quartararo’s crash was much, much slower – 75 km/h, rather than 274 – but could have been much more serious. The Frenchman lost the rear, then the bike tried to flick him up and over the highside, twisting his ankle in the process.
It is hard to overstate just how different Silverstone is from Spielberg, where the last two MotoGP rounds were held.
Sure, both have very high average speeds – Silverstone at 179.7 km/h is among the fastest tracks on the calendar, and Spielberg’s 188 km/h is the fastest of the season – but that is pretty much where the similarity ends.
Silverstone has 18 corners, where Spielberg has only 10. The Austrian circuit is 4.3km long, while Silverstone is 5.9 kilometers.
The Red Bull Ring is three fast straights with a bunch of corners holding them together, while Silverstone is a complex of flowing corners and combinations of turns which present a real challenge to get right.
Oh, and Spielberg has steep climbs and sweeping drops, built on the side of a mountain (the clue is in the name, SpielBERG), while Silverstone is pretty much flat as a pancake, built around an old airfield on the top of a hill.
The fallout from Maverick Viñales’ precipitate departure from the Monster Energy Yamaha team continues to reshape 2022, and perhaps even 2021.
First, Aprilia announced on the Monday after Austria that Viñales would be racing for them alongside Aleix Espargaro in 2022.
Then, at the end of that week, Yamaha announced they would be terminating their contract with Viñales with immediate effect.
Episode 232 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show is a preview of the MotoGP action that is coming this weekend at the British GP at Silverstone
On the mics, we have Steve English and David Emmett, as they cover a host of topics that have been percolating in the grand prix paddock that past few days and weeks.
Maverick Viñales’ decision to leave Yamaha at the end of the 2021 season raised all sorts of questions.
Who would take his place in the factory Monster Energy Yamaha team? Can Franco Morbidelli be bought out of his contract with the Petronas SRT team? And if Morbidelli goes to the factory team, who do Petronas take to replace Morbidelli?
Valentino Rossi added another layer of complexity to those questions at the Styria Grand Prix by announcing he would be retiring from MotoGP at the end of this year. Now, Yamaha had not one, but two seats to fill.
The rocky relationship between Maverick Viñales and Yamaha has come to an early end.
The Japanese factory announced today that they would be releasing Viñales from his contract effective immediately. Viñales is now free to start work with Aprilia, in theory at least.
There has been yet another change to the MotoGP calendar for 2021. As had been expected, the Malaysian Grand Prix scheduled for October 24th at the Sepang International Circuit has been canceled.
In its place will be an extra race at the Misano circuit in Italy. Misano will be the second circuit, after Portimão, which will host two races this year, but not back to back.
Episode 229 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the Austria GP at the Red Bull Ring.
On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they cover what turned out to be another eventful weekend in Austria.