Could Marquez have spiced up dull Austria MotoGP battle without start drama?

The memories of Brad Binder taking a shock home win for KTM at the Red Bull Ring in 2021 are still fresh in the minds of MotoGP fans. It’s not often you see a rider nursing slick tyres in a flag-to-flag race with rain lashing down and still coming away with victory.

The 2019 edition of the Spielberg was equally a classic thanks to an exhilarating duel between Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso, which was decided on the last turn of the final lap when the Ducati rider lunged up the inside of the Spaniard and hung on to the lead on the dash to the finish line.

When you consider that Spielberg has delivered those two iconic races relatively recently, it’s sad that the last two editions of the Austrian Grand Prix have been rather dull, particularly due to a lack of fight at the front.

It’s not that these races featured very limited overtaking, as evidenced by a number of battles witnessed lower down the grid. But as in 2023, whenFrancesco Bagnaia cleared off into the distance after beating Binder off the line, the battle for victory on Sunday was effectively over by the end of the second lap. Bagnaia snatched the lead from polesitter Jorge Martin under braking for Turn 1 then was never headed for the remainder of the race.

To Martin’s credit, he did hang on to the tail of the factory Ducati rider for the first 14 laps, but as soon as the race reached its halfway point the Pramac man began to drop away with heavy degradation on his front tyre. In the end, Bagnaia’s 3.2s winning margin made for a rather underwhelming race at a track that has been home to some scintillating action in the past.

One of the reasons why the Austrian GP was so mediocre was Marc Marquez’s disastrous start from third on the grid, caused by a disengaged holeshot device. This left him vulnerable to contact from Franco Morbidelli into Turn 1 and caused him to plummet down to 13th place.

Marquez recovered with some brilliant overtaking moves, ironically breathing life in an otherwise sedate race, to claim fourth at the finish. But his pace left many to wonder what could have been had he pulled away cleanly from the front row.

Could the six-time champion realistically have had anything against the trio of GP24s that locked out the podium? A closer look at the data provides some answers.

For the majority of the race, Marquez was able to lap in low 1m30s and high 1m29s – even while running in traffic. After his poor launch at the start, it took him just four laps to get back inside the top 10.

He continued to carve his way through the field, climbing up to sixth by the 10th lap of the race. Passing the similar Ducati GP23 of Marco Bezzecchi was the hardest task but, once he got through, it didn’t take long for him to make the next overtake on Binder’s KTM for fourth.

It took him 18 laps to make these 10 positions, but he was finally running in clear air. This is when he began to show his true speed, having managed to save enough life in his Michelin tyres during his charge through the pack.

Marquez was faster than the leader when in clear air, although by this time Bagnaia had little to gain from pushing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Between laps 20 and 25, Marquez was the fastest rider in the field, lapping as much as three tenths quicker than leader Bagnaia. While Bagnaia’s pace dropped to 1m31s, Marquez was still able to lap in mid-to-high 1m30s. During this time, he also managed to cut the deficit to third-placed Enea Bastianini from 8.7s to just 6s.

“I don’t dare to say if I could have been with Bagnaia and Martin. At the end of the race I was faster, yes, but at the beginning I was slower”
Marc Marquez

Ultimately, Marquez knew that Bastianini was too far away and chose to ease off in the final phase of the race, completing the last lap in 1m32.075s. However, the conclusion was easy to derive – Marquez was indeed going to be a factor in the podium battle if things hadn’t gone badly at the start.

Despite taking things easy at the end, Marquez’s gap to Bagnaia remained stable from lap 18 to 28. In the same period, he gained 1.5s on runner-up Martin and two seconds on Bastianini.

Given Bagnaia’s advantage, it’s unlikely Marquez would have been able to pull off an unlikely win. But third place was definitely on the cards and there was a chance that he could have troubled Martin for second too.

A battle for second between Marquez and Martin, particularly after the latter’s dip in pace, would have turned a rather sedate race into a nail-biter.

Martin would not have easily yielded position to his countryman, aware that a third place would leave him even further adrift of Bagnaia in the points table. Marquez, on the other hand, would not have been afraid to attempt his typical block pass, even if he knew that would send Martin wide.

After losing the lead to Bagnaia, Martin had a lonely ride to second but a battle with Marquez would have injected life into the race

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

After all, Marquez was arguably enjoying his best showing of the year, having felt confident with his GP23 right from the off in Spielberg. Ultimately, a battle for second wasn’t to be, leading to a rather anti-climatic ending.

“I don’t dare to say if I could have been with Bagnaia and Martin,” said Marquez. “At the end of the race I was faster, yes, but at the beginning I was slower. Maybe they used more tyres at the beginning than at the end.

“I could have been on the podium, but it wasn’t possible.”

But Marquez wasn’t the only reason for the Austrian GP failing to live up to expectations. A number of other factors were also at play.

Firstly, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for MotoGP riders to follow each other on track, a direct consequence of the increasing reliance on aerodynamics and electronic aids.

Then there’s the issue of Ducati’s dominance in MotoGP. The Borgo Panigale marque’s knowledge of Michelin’s new rear tyre – owing to its numerical advantage – and subsequently superior understanding of it is pulling Ducati’s GP24 bikes further clear of the opposition.

Add to the fact that the layout of the Spielberg circuit plays to the strengths of the Desmosedici – Sunday’s win was Ducati’s ninth – it was no surprise that seven positions inside the top 10 were occupied by Ducati riders. But Ducati has been dominating MotoGP for a while now and we’ve still had interesting races in 2024. So what was different about Spielberg?

As it turns out, managing tyre pressures proved to be a bigger worry than on other tracks. Following a rider too closely for a number of laps meant pressures would spike substantially, adversely affecting the performance of the chasing bike.

Managing tyre pressure was imperative at the Red Bull Ring and added to difficulties in following with the numerous aerodynamic appendages

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

It was no surprise then that both Bagnaia and Martin were so desperate to get into the lead in both races over the weekend. Bagnaia’s early passes in both the sprint and the grand prix ultimately proved to be decisive in his double victory. It was telling when Martin said “90% of the win is done” if you are leading the race after the opening three or four laps.

Bastianini too was unusually slow in the final laps of the race. Known for his breathtaking late-race speed, the Italian’s rise from seventh to third on the opening lap must have been a cause of worry for both Martin and Bagnaia. But the British Grand Prix winner was never able to turn up the wick as he continuously slipped behind the leaders during the 28-lap contest.

Underlining that this is more a MotoGP-specific problem than related to the circuit itself was how the support races at Spielberg boasted no shortage of action. In the Moto3 class, David Munoz finished just 0.005s clear of Daniel Holgado to snatch second position, while the final position on the podium in Moto2 was also decided on the final lap.

“Pure performance now with aerodynamics allows us to go faster, reach higher speeds. But also you have to brake more – and with the brakes you can only go so far”
Miguel Oliveira

While it is in MotoGP teams’ best interests to work together and improve the quality of racing, they are all out there to chase glory. With lap records being smashed at nearly every circuit on the calendar this year, it is clear where the focus is at the moment.

As Trackhouse’s Miguel Oliveira summed it up when asked about the poor spectacle at Spielberg: “[That’s] because we just look for the pure performance.

“Pure performance now with aerodynamics allows us to go faster, reach higher speeds. But also you have to brake more – and with the brakes you can only go so far. So you have brakes, temperature, front tyre pressure.

“We have a harder compound which we can’t use because we crash with it – it’s too hard on the edge [and] we don’t have enough grip. Then we race with the softer tyre, which is normally the normal hard compound for most of the tracks which is too soft. But it’s the best compromise.

“Finally it’s harder to overtake. It’s definitely not like it was five, six years ago with the old MotoGP bikes.”

Even without his poor start, there are no guarantees that Marquez could have enlivened the lead battle

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images