Five days of testing were all the field had to get itself ready for the 2023 season, two of which taking place at the Algarve International Circuit which played host to the opening round of the campaign. Therefore, when bikes hit the track for the first practice of MotoGP’s revised format, the spread was tight and everyone was dialled in.
Though the new format brought about a new way of working – and plenty of criticism – it was the reigning world champions Ducati and Francesco Bagnaia who emerged with a total haul of 37 points to put its pre-season money where its mouth is.
The sprint race drew mixed opinions, while Marc Marquez went from zero to hero in the space of a day and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo found himself coming up against the same old problems.
1. Jury’s still out on sprint races
Sprint race provided entertainment on its debut, but still left opinions mixed
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The biggest format shake-up in MotoGP’s 75-year history drew a mixed reception when it was first announced last August. But sprint races are here, and for the time being they’re here to stay.
The half-distance contest is worth a maximum of 12 points and has no bearing on the main grand prix. What ensued was a fun scrap with a fair bit of action, with Bagnaia emerging victorious after a last-lap mistake from Pramac’s Jorge Martin.
As two days of testing had already taken place at the Algarve track prior to the first round, future sprints in theory shouldn’t be as hectic as the performance spread should be slightly wider
Given the chaos that ensued in the main race (more on that later), it’s hard to know after the first sprint just how much value it has added to a grand prix weekend as – for the most part – the main race looked like it was going to follow not dissimilarly to the sprint.
Opinion on it was split, with the main detractors of it highlighting the safety aspect brought about by what they felt was a heightened level of aggression (again, more on that later).
As two days of testing had already taken place at the Algarve track prior to the first round, future sprints in theory shouldn’t be as hectic as the performance spread should be slightly wider.
Only after a few rounds will we truly see how worthwhile the sprint is to the weekend. But, for the time being, it’s earning its keep.
2. Aggression levels in MotoGP do need checking
Bastianini was injured in sprint crash with Marini, which will put…
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