After falling short in the Qatar GP Sprint Race to Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia took the win in the first Grand Prix of the season. The race was delayed due to an issue with Raul Fernandez’s bike on the starting grid. As a result Fernandez had to start the race from the pit lane.
At the start Jorge Martin lost two positions after starting on pole. The advantage was Bagnaia’s after just one lap of racing. Martin had fallen to P3 with Brad Binder making a sensational pass to get ahead in the second sector. Binder’s teammate wasn’t as fortunate. As the pack headed into turn 1 jack miller crashed out of the race. Miller sprang back up immediately and wasn’t injured in the crash. He was forced to retire however ending his race.
Raul Fernandez DNF, Acosta Shows Glimpses of Brilliance
After starting from the pit lane Raul Fernandez made a surprising jump up the pecking order. However, he ended up retiring from the race with 4 laps to go. Paul Acosta showed early promise in his MotoGP main event debut. He made challenges for the top 5 early but his efforts proved to be futile as he cooked his tires early in the race and his pace fell off substantially in the late stages. After reaching as high as a battle for P4 briefly. Acosta had to settle for P9. The experience of the other riders and their tire management in the early stages are really what set them apart from Fernandez falling back.
Mac Marquez Falls Short of the Podium on a Positive Note
Even though Marc Marquez didn’t finish the Qatar GP on the podium. The 8 time champion will take the race weekend in Qatar as a positive. Marquez finished P4 and had formidable pace during the Qatar GP. Likewise his brother and teammate Alex Marquez finished P6. While not ideal the team walked away from this weekend on a positive note. “I had a go at the podium. I wanted to preserve the front tire in order to have a little extra at the end of the race, and almost bridged the gap to Martin,” said Marquez.
“Almost, but it’s good this way. If at the Valencia test they’d told me I would have finished fourth today, I would have signed for it. This has never been one of my favorite circuits so fourth place is a good result. We will analyze the data now: Bagnaia finished three seconds ahead of us and he’s the reigning champion. It’s from him we need to learn to further raise the bar.”
Qatar Grand Prix Result are Below
World Championship Standings After Round 1