The French GP is only the fifth of the season, but what we are seeing at this start of the championship is enough to understand that we are facing one of the most exciting seasons in recent years. Equality is the constant, mistakes are paid for with many positions, and a fall can take you out or put you in the fight for the first positions.
What we have seen this weekend reinforces that idea. And it also confirms that Jorge Martín is the one at the helm of the championship at the start of the campaign. The Madrid native, despite the crash in Jerez, has set the tone to follow throughout the weekend with pole, victory in the Sprint Race and victory in the race. Thanks to this, he regains his breath at the top of the general standings thanks to his dominance of the weekend, and the fact that Pecco Bagnaia was unable to score points in the Sprint Race, which marked the Italian's third “zero” in what We are in season.
THE BATTLE WITH A MATCH BETWEEN JORGE MARTÍN AND PECCO BAGNAIA 💪💪💪
SPECTACULAR 🔥#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/6i0AvLNpNf
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) May 12, 2024
But beyond the points advantage, 38 against Pecco, 40 over Márquez and Bastianini, the feeling is that Jorge Martín is at a moment in which, in addition to being very fast, he is capable of managing situations. In fact, during the first twenty laps of the race, it was Bagnaia who was at the front setting the pace and Martín, far from rushing, waited for the moment to attack. Once he consolidated the overtaking, he did not let go of first place until the checkered flag, and it was not because Bagnaia did not apply pressure, but because the Madrid native knew how to withstand it.
Pecco once again demonstrated his class and talent, although he had to give up a second place that seemed to be well on his way, to Marc Márquez who continues to grow with the Ducati. He is growing so much that he leaves Le Mans third in the championship, as we said before, 40 points behind Martín, but only 2 behind Bagnaia after two second positions. And although victory still eludes him, the feeling after the French GP is that it will come sooner rather than later.
And they are not speculation or gaining from seeing how the recovery from the 2020 fall culminates, no. It is a verifiable fact because those two second places came after coming back from thirteenth position on the grid both days. Marc is back, with a bike inferior to that of Bagnaia and Martín. He doesn't know the Ducati as much as they do and yet in his fifth GP we can already say that he is at their level.
🔥BESTIAL OVERSIGHT 🔥
Marc Márquez with Pecco Bagnaia on the last lap to be 2nd in Le Mans
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) May 13, 2024
In addition to the three main protagonists, we must not lose sight of the rest, and among all of them we must not overlook the performance of Enea Bastianini. The Italian, despite serving a “long lap” penalty, finished 2.2 seconds ahead, practically the time he lost due to the penalty. The work of Maverick Viñales is also not negligible, who was third in the Sprint, and who spent part of Sunday's race fighting for the podium, showing that both he and the Aprilia are ready to fight and much closer than it seems. Maverick is fifth in the standings, but only 10 points behind Bagnaia.
With the race time of 2024, the tenth place finisher of the French GP would have won in 2023
Di Gianantonio continues to show his talent, beating drivers with the GP24 such as Franco Morbidelli, who is getting closer to regaining his form, or Brad Binder who was able to climb from last to eighth place. Aleix Espargaró, who remained in third position until the tenth lap, was finally relegated to ninth position (after an incident with Bastianini) with Álex Márquez closing the “top10” 13.4 seconds behind the winner.
SANCTION FOR BASTIANINI FOR THIS ACTION WITH ALEIX ESPARGARÓ! ⛔
He had no choice but to go outside to avoid the impact#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/DTJmiinM7f
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) May 12, 2024
Perhaps that is the most relevant fact about equality in MotoGP, and it is that after 27 laps or what is the same, 112,995 kilometers, between the first and the last of the top 10 classified. And all of this breaking fast lap and race records for another weekend, because with Álex Márquez's race time, he would have won the 2023 GP with an advantage of 8 tenths.
So in the fastest year in MotoGP history we are having the closest qualifying, can you ask for more? Maybe Japanese motorcycles will join the party, although for now it seems complicated…
