MotoGP: Vinales kicks off 2021 with victory in Qatar

The 2021 MotoGP World Championship got underway under the artificial lighting in Qatar at the Losail International Circuit. Francesco Bagnaia started from a first pole position on his debut for the Ducati Lenovo Team.

It was a stunning start to the race for Ducati, who had the two factory bikes of Bagnaia and Jack Miller leading into turn one, just ahead of the satellite Pramac machines of Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin. 

Immediately, Bagnaia began to edge away, but when Miller was passed by Zarco, the Frenchman was able to reduce the gap to the #63.

The most impressive rider in the early stages was Martin, who was able to run with the leaders early on. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, it cost him too much rear tyre and he eventually started to drop back. 

The first to come through were the factory Monster Energy Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales, who, once they had cleared Martin, had good pace and were able to catch the leading trio of Ducatis. 

Next up to pass Martin was the Suzuki pairing of Alex Rins and Joan Mir, before Aleix Espargaro also found his way through. These three would then spend the next laps catching the leading five, with Rins leading the charge. 

When Rins arrived on the back of the group, Vinales had already started to make progress and was beginning to apply the pressure to Bagnaia, who he eventually passed on lap 15. 

Rins needed to pass the Ducatis quickly in order to keep with Vinales, but instead he started going backwards as he ran out of grip. Mir, on the other hand, had also by now caught the group and had looked after his tyre better than his teammate by making slower lap times in the middle of the race after he cleared Martin. Now, that was paying off as he was able to Miller, and then start closing on Zarco and Bagnaia. 

Considering their speed on Saturday, the Ducatis had been relatively sluggish in the straights. Vinales, who by now was well on his way to winning his first races since last September, was able to stick in the slipstream of the Desmosedicis on the front straight, and now so was Mir. The absence of Ducati’s biggest advantage was costing them dear. 

With three laps to go, Mir passed Bagnaia, and set his sights on Zarco. The Spaniard brought Bagnaia with him up to the back of the #5, though, so it could have gone either way for the reigning World Champion. 

It looked good, though, and on the final lap Mir passed Zarco in the penultimate corner and seemingly secured second place. However, as Dovizioso did in 2015 on the final lap, Mir ran wide in the final corner, lost momentum and drive down the straight and was blitzed by the two Ducatis on the run to the line. 

By that point, Vinales had already won, a dominant, aggressive and yet considered display from the #12 who took his second victory in Qatar after his 2017 triumph on debut for Yamaha. His comments after Saturday were all too similar, that the bike felt good and he felt good on it. But whereas in the past those positive sounds on Saturday night were countered by timid and frustrating performances on Sunday, this time Vinales was able to fulfil his promise and was inch-perfect on his way to the top step. 

Behind, Zarco and Bagnaia benefitted from Mir’s final turn mistake to finish second and third, respectively – a good start to the season for both, but somehow also disappointing after the excitement around Ducati across testing and this weekend. 

Disappointment would be a valid feeling for Mir, who had second place in the bag before the mistake, but the Spaniard doesn’t tend to make the same mistake twice and will no doubt be fighting for the podium again next weekend. 

Behind Mir, Fabio Quartararo beat Alex Rins for fifth in what became a battle between the two in the final laps, the pair of them having used too much tyre in the middle of the race. 

Aleix Espargaro finished seventh after a great ride from the #41, who was only 2.3 seconds back from the leader after three-quarter distance. The Aprilia rider was ahead of his brother, Pol Espargaro, who also had strong late race pace on his Repsol Honda debut, in which he beat Jack Miller for eighth as the Australian, too, overworked his tyre. 

With the possible exception of Maverick Vinales, Enea Bastianini was the surprise of the night, finishing 10th on his MotoGP debut with last year’s Ducati. The Italian had some of the strongest pace of the whole field in the closing stages of the race, and overcame the likes of Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder and Jorge Martin in the final laps to close out the top 10. Such a strong start brings a lot of pressure for the #23, so it will be interesting to see how he performs in one weeks’ time at the Grand Prix of Doha.

Behind Bastianini was Stefan Bradl, while Valentino Rossi could only manage 12th, ahead of the factory KTMs of Oliveira and Binder, and Martin who took the final point in 15th on his MotoGP debut, having abused his tyre perhaps more than anyone else in the opening laps. Running at the front with the best in the world can’t have done the #89 any harm, though. 

Luca Marini missed out on points on his premier class debut, finishing 16th in the end, ahead of Iker Lecuona, a severely disappointing Franco Morbidelli and Lorenzo Savadori who was the final classified finisher in 19th. 

There were three retirements, as Danilo Petrucci crashed out at turn two on the opening lap of his KTM debut; while Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez proved the continued difficulty of the Honda as they both crashed out as well.