The Aftermath #2: Martin checkmates Bagnaia, Acosta ruffles up some feathers & Aprilia’s technical dramas continue…
Here are the main talking points from last weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
Shehryar Bin Shahid 28th March 2024
Share on:
After a not-so-sprightly weekend early on in Portugal, Martin arrived on Sunday big time, as he snatched the lead from the off and never looked back. Unlike his past performances, Martin utilized a more calculated, ‘Sunday-centric’ approach to do the most damage, rather than just relying on his speed.
So what are the implications of Martin’s victory in Portugal?
1- ‘Stoic’ Martin pipped to be nightmarish championship leader
Jorge Martin’s recent win has to come across as a huge warning to his rivals. Because this was the mental switch Martin needed to further his growth as a championship contender.
Usually, the ‘Martinator’ is expected to stamp his authority from the get-go by topping the free practice sessions, qualifying on pole, and then winning the Sprint race to cap off a super Saturday. However, on Sundays, Martin generally struggles compared to his chief championship rival Francesco Bagnaia.
Usually, the Spaniard’s over-emphasis on extracting the most speed from the bike has often been criticized for not being race-centric, with Martin usually making several misjudgments in the race regarding tires and pace management.
The Spaniard underwent a huge drop in tire performance late last year in Phillip Island, where he looked unsurmountable, only to suffer a huge drop in tire performance that pushed him down from the lead to finish in fifth place on the final lap.
Martin faced another mysterious tire issue in Qatar last year, which effectively cost him the 2023 world championship, due to the Spaniard overcooking his rear tires in the earlier laps (sure, it was a bit unfortunate due to an error with the launch device, which lit up the rears).
And then, coming to the first race of the 2024 season, Martin easily conceded the race lead to Francesco Bagnaia to preserve his tires, only to find out that he had more pace in reserve and should’ve put up a better fight against the Italian.
But even in that race, Martin showed an astounding level of growth and maturity from 2023, as instead of matching Bagnaia blow for blow, the Spaniard focused entirely on running a good pace for the entirety of the 24 laps, which is exactly the type of approach needed to challenge Bagnaia’s dominance on Sundays despite coming short.
In Portugal, from the opening practice to the Sprint race, Martin looked to be in a subdued form compared to his past self, but throughout the weekend, the Spaniard was confident about his race setup and his choice of tires, as he constantly reminded everyone that the race would be a different story.
With this new ‘race-centric’ approach towards the weekend, Martin was able to do maximum damage on Sunday as his main rivals tumbled, allowing him to hold a cushion of 18 points already in the championship standings and 23 points over Francesco Bagnaia.
With this approach, Martin can effectively counter Bagnaia’s advantage in the races, and this will force Bagnaia to level up his speed in order to counter this ‘cerebral’ version of Jorge Martin.
For Bagnaia, there will be no better track to claw back those points from Martin than the Circuit of the Americas – a layout where Bagnaia excels and Martin struggles.
2- Another checkmate from Martin to Bagnaia:
Another key area where again Martin completely outshone Bagnaia was in their battle with a certain Marc Marquez, who by now should be expected to play a huge part in this year’s world championship.
Martin last year had his own fair share of clashes with Marquez, when the two notably clashed at the Valencia finale, but this year Martin’s response to Marquez’ so-called ‘dirty maneuver’ on the last lap of the Sprint race was complete nonchalance—even if Martin had a good reason to reattack and reclaim that second place immediately. The ‘Martinator’ instead decided to settle for useful points and went back to fight back another day.
On the contrary, Bagnaia in the race, who was already struggling to keep tabs with the front runners, was now coming under increasing pressure from Marc Marquez for fifth place. But unlike Martin, Bagnaia was hellbent on defending that fifth position, which would’ve been for a net gain of one point.
Marquez made a similar pass to what he did to Jorge Martin in the Sprint race but this time it was met with an audacious counter from Bagnaia who miscalculated the space on the inside, resulting in both hitting the floor and consequently scoring zero points.
Struggling Bagnaia must’ve seen the red mist, as the move clearly wasn’t on. With Bagnaia and Marquez expected to be contesting closely in such a long season ahead, such instances will only escalate the tensions between the two.
3- Acosta ruffles some feathers:
Pedro Acosta stole the show on Sunday, as he demonstrated a pace that no other KTM could hang with. The Spaniard’s only points for improvement look to be in the area of qualifying and the Sprint race, but in the race, Pedro Acosta took little time to get past the sister KTMs of Miller and Binder before catching and overtaking Marquez and Bagnaia.
His move on Bagnaia in turn three in particular was also voted ‘overtake of the race’ by the fans. The Spanish rookie’s stock only went up after the weekend as he gained tremendous appraisals from fans, riders, and pundits alike.
Another reason why this podium was so impressive, was due to the type of comeback performance that he demonstrated from seventh place on the grid to overtake the likes of Miller, Binder, Marquez, and Bagnaia, who are notoriously hard on the brakes.
Not to mention that Portugal is considered one of the more difficult venues for rookie riders to understand, but the Spaniard made it look easy and faced no tire troubles for the race, which will bode better for future races.
A bit of a speculation, but I also have a feeling that Acosta’s move on Bagnaia and Marquez might’ve played a part in both clashing later on.
Marquez wanted to regain the fifth position that he lost to Acosta at the time and Bagnaia just didn’t want to concede any more positions in the later laps after being passed by Acosta. With no one willing to give away, it all pointed towards a crash in the final laps.
4- Aprilia needs to get on top of their issues:
The 2024 RSGP has proven to be a match at both the circuits that we have raced so far, with Aleix shining brightly in Qatar and then Vinales showing how it’s done in Portugal.
Vinales was the fastest man all weekend, with the Spaniard winning his first-ever Sprint race with Aprilia, and was looking menacing in Sunday’s race, only for a gearbox issue to hamper him all race before giving out in the final lap.
The Spaniard struggled to engage the fifth and sixth gears all race long and was still able to maintain a good gap to Martin ahead, showing that had he not faced such issues, a win might’ve been on the cards for the Aprilia rider.
But all this pace amounts to nothing if you don’t see the chequered flag.
In Qatar daytime free practices, the Aprilias of Raul Fernandez and Maverick Vinales gave out, hinting at similar issues to what they faced last year with their bikes suffering technical issues under hot conditions. Then, in the race, Raul Fernandez again came into the pits to retire due to technical issues.
In Portugal, Vinales again fell victim to the technical issues in the form of gearbox glitches, but this time in the race where he was firmly in contention for the win.
Had his bike not given out in the final lap, Vinales would’ve finished second in the race and third in the championship standings, right in the mix with the front group—whereas now he only sits 8th in the standings.
If Aprilia ever want to mix in with the Ducatis and the KTMs for the world championship, they will need to sort out their reliability issues at the earliest.
