“It was very frustrating to see one Ducati come past and go away and then another,” said Espargaró, who had Bastianini, Marc Márquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio come past him in the second half of the race as he ran out of rear grip. “I tried my best with the electronics – up and down with the engine brake and traction control – but there was nothing I could do against them.”
Espargaró qualified on pole – because the RS-GP works so well through Silverstone’s sweeping curves – and finished third in the sprint behind Bastianini and Martin, which suggested he had a chance in the main race. But the GP24 is even stronger in GP mode than in sprint mode. Why is that?
“With a softer rear tyre they have a limit, because the rear pushes the front,” explained Espargaró. “That’s why we are close in qualifying and the sprint, but with harder rear tyres [used in the twice-as-long main race] it’s so difficult to fight with them.”
Those who doubt Bastianini’s title potential haven’t been keeping an eye on his recent results. Sunday’s victory was his third podium in the last four races and last time out in Germany he was fourth, less than a second off the podium.
Espargaró started his 329th GP from pole but the Aprilia ate its rear tyre too quickly, so he had nothing for the Ducatis
The 26-year-old Italian has had a mostly difficult time since Ducati chose him over Martin for the factory team for 2023. He missed nearly half of last year’s races through injury and never really got on with the GP23. This year his results have been conditioned by mostly poor qualifying performances — his Silverstone front row was the first time he had started from the front row since the Portuguese GP in March! And however good his late-race pace might be (no one overtakes more riders!), it won’t be enough, unless he consistently qualifies at the front and has a strong first few laps.
Maybe, just maybe, Bastianini has turned a corner.
“During the summer break I thought a lot about how to do something more,” he said. “Many times I’ve missed my time attack, but this weekend my approach to the time attack was good.
“This time I made my best qualifying lap with my first tyre. Every other time I didn’t have the opportunity to do this and many times with my second tyre there were yellow flags or too much traffic.”
Perhaps Bastianini should continue betting on his first qualifying run.
Some people in the MotoGP paddock call Bastianini the Tyre Whisperer, because he’s so good at listening to his rear tyre and looking after it.
“I’m now softer with my movements on the bike, so I am more relaxed on the bike and I can be fast all the way through the race,” he told me towards the end of his rookie MotoGP season in 2021.
But his ability to eke out race-long grip from his rear tyre isn’t only about how he plays with rear grip. He has a special feeling with the front tyre, which allows him to force the front tyre to turn the bike, thus saving the rear for later in the race when he needs it most. Hence his devastating late pace.
Three quarters of a century of MotoGP technology in one photo – an AJS Porcupine twin, which won the inaugural 1949 MotoGP title, stands in front of reigning champ Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati GP24s in Silverstone pitlane
Oxley
Bagnaia uses a similar technique – using the front for turning and for huge corner speed – but it didn’t work at Silverstone, because he didn’t have the front tyre he needed. The hard option was too hard for the cool conditions – he thought he might crash if he tried to race with it – and the medium wasn’t hard enough. And he had crashed out of the sprint, which made him cautious on Sunday, especially because he didn’t have the front grip he needed.
“The medium front was the best solution but it wasn’t the fastest tyre,” said Bagnaia. “I struggled a lot in braking. Normally I turn the bike with the front but this time I couldn’t do that, because I had a lot of locking and movement from the tyre.”