The media hype machine is a vicious thing. It builds you up and knocks you down. If you let it.
So far Pedro Acosta doesn’t seem likely to let that happen. All through the Qatar weekend the 19-year-old (yes, still only 19!) entertained us with his antics on track – saving slide after slide, showing no respect for his elders and even passing Marc Márquez in the grand prix, like Márquez had passed Valentino Rossi in his MotoGP debut in Qatar 11 years ago. Hero on superhero. And, out of interest, Acosta was only six years old when Márquez won his first world title!
And yet Acosta was probably even more entertaining when he was off the bike. Like Rossi, he loves the attention and he manages to make a serious sport sound like a game of fun, which is why fans loved Rossi so much.
