MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Managing a race is about managing expectations. You have to have a plan for the race. But you also have to have a plan for when your original plan goes to pieces, usually on first contact with reality. You can start the race with the desire to execute your plan as perfectly and precisely as possible. But it is good to have an idea of how to handle things when the plan goes wrong.

That is easier at some racetracks than at others. If, like Pecco Bagnaia at Misano, your plan after taking pole is to get away at the start and lead for the entire race, then you need to pull it off. If you don't, then everything about your bike will work against you, making any alternatives you might have had in mind look pretty forlorn.

Why is that? The combination of ride-height devices and aerodynamics put such an intense load on the front tire that they have made passing almost impossible at some places. The ride-height devices have shortened braking zones dramatically and radically increased the load on the front tire, working to raise both the surface temperature and the pressure. And the aerodynamics have created such a large wake that if you're following another rider, it is impossible to get cold air on the tire to cool it down. Unless you are a lot faster than the rider in front, you are stuck.

But don't just take my word for it. "It’s impossible to overtake. Really very, very difficult. And when you’re in the group it’s a nightmare," said Aleix Espargaro.

"It's a combination of the aero, of the hot temperature which increases a lot and then the tire pressure increases a lot and you have massive locking. When you’re behind somebody you want to brake at the same points but you can't; you have to brake a bit earlier," Marc Márquez explained. "Even like this you will stop the bike in the very last part of the corner. You are pushing even more the front tire."

Alex Márquez had similar comments, based on his experience at Misano. "I had something more than the guys I had in front, but it was not enough to overtake. So problems with the front tire started, about pressure, temperature and then I was not able to overtake. So I was just sitting there waiting to finish the race."

Misano is particularly bad for this, because it has no points where you can get out of the slipstream of the rider ahead and get some fresh air on your front tire to help cool it down. "Here all the straights are super short. If you make a move like this," - here Alex Márquez makes a gesture with his hand to show a bike pulling out from behind another - "it will be just for 1 second, so in 1 second you don't make any difference."

The track is quite narrow and one line, Marc Márquez explained. "It’s critical because you cannot use the slipstream, which then is affecting you a lot in the braking points. In Austria you have a lot of braking points, but then with the long straights the slipstream helps you. So yeah, this racetrack is one of the most difficult racetracks to overtake."

Back to Pecco Bagnaia. The first part of his plan - qualify on pole - succeeded spectacularly. The Ducati Lenovo rider posted a devastating lap nearly three tenths faster than Franco Morbidelli in second. To put Bagnaia's advantage in perspective, the gap between Bagnaia in first and Morbidelli in second was as big as between Morbidelli in second and Alex Márquez in seventh. Bagnaia's pole lap was just untouchable.

The reigning champion also set a new outright lap record, shaving 0.086 off Jorge Martin's previous record set here last year. Curiously, it is the smallest improvement of the year. The lap record has been broken at 12 of the 13 rounds of MotoGP held this year - Portimão was the only exception - with times on average just under half a second quicker than in 2023, an artifact of the new 2024 Michelin rear.

Why such a small improvement in Misano? "Because this track is always with a lot of grip," Luca Marini explained. "At the other tracks the grip level on the ground is a little bit lower, so when new tires arrive like this year that are better, the improvement will be more. Here the grip is always fantastic, so the improvement is less."

Pole was part 1 of Bagnaia's plan, getting away in the lead was part 2. And that's where everything went wrong for the Ducati Lenovo rider. He got a solid start off the line, but once the clutch reached the point at which you go from slipping off the line to fully engaging, it didn't react properly. Bagnaia lost a little bit of drive, and saw Jorge Martin - who had got a fantastic launch - fly by into Turn 1.

"I missed the start because the first part was good, but then I didn't find the good moment when the clutch bit, and then I had a lot of slip from the clutch," Bagnaia explained. "And as soon as I started to slip like this, I understood that someone would overtake me. And it was Jorge. So he did a very good start."

What went wrong for Bagnaia? It has everything to do with Ducati's carbon clutch. The reason for using a carbon clutch is simple: they are stronger and lighter, reducing both static and rotating mass, making the engine assembly lighter and the bike easier to turn. The downside is that carbon clutch plates are much more aggressive and more sensitive, making it harder to judge the perfect way to release the clutch. So of course, Ducati have a procedure for that.