Acosta “cannot expect anything” despite rookie MotoGP podium breakthrough

The 19-year-old Tech3 rider put in another headline-grabbing ride in Sunday’s grand prix at the Algarve International Circuit, as he came through from seventh on the grid.

First dispatching his factory KTM counterparts Jack Miller and Brad Binder early on in the 25-lap race, Acosta then put overtakes on Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia to move up to fourth in the closing stages.

That became third when Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales suffered a suspected gearbox issue on the last lap and crashed, gifting Acosta a first MotoGP podium at just his second attempt.

One of the most anticipated prospects in the paddock for many years, Acosta has once again moved to downplay expectations of being able to score more podiums in the coming races.

“Well, there’s still a ways to go,” the Spaniard said.

“This is only the beginning. We have to have our foot on the ground and understand that this was a really nice weekend, but maybe in America it’s going to be tough or maybe in Jerez.

“I don’t really know because every race for us is going to be a question mark because there are going to be any new tracks on a MotoGP bike before arriving to Malaysia [where he tested in February].

“For this, we need to be calm, because it’s a long season.

“We cannot expect anything, because it’s quite soon, but very happy with how the guys are managing the bike and managing my head.”

Acosta says the final lap of the race was his slowest as he suddenly realised he was in a podium position following Vinales’ exit.

“Well, also the team showed me one message on the [pit] board, it was like ‘calm’,” he added.

“With P4, it was [reading] ‘calm’. And I said, ‘okay, four seconds behind, now we will try to be calm and not make any mess and get back with the bike to the box’, because even if this lap was slow it was going to be enough.

“And I was just riding and when I saw he was wide and crashing, then I said ‘Okay, now you can’t do anything bad!’

“Also if you check the race from the air, I was wide everywhere and making some mistakes, and I think it was the slowest lap of my race.”