The current champion has seen how Pecco Bagnaia got hooked on the brawl for the title after cutting 42 points from him in the last two rounds, while Aleix Espargaró remains less than a race away despite the physical problems he dragged on in the last stop on the calendar, at Silverstone, where he fractured the heel of his right foot as a result of a fall.
Fabio Quartararo will wake up in Spielberg this Thursday, where his best result in the heavy bike category is third place achieved in 2019, the course of his MotoGP debut, and in 2021 (Styria).
Like the rest of the grid, the Frenchman will debut the Red Bull Ring chicane, after the modification of the layout that took place this winter and that Formula 1 will not use – it will continue with the conventional profile. The reason for the introduction of this variant between curves 1 and 3, is to avoid the possibility of repeating an accident like the one that, in 2021, was about to end in tragedy: Johann Zarco put Franco Morbidelli on top of more than 200 kilometers per hour, and the bikes of both were projected and passed a few centimeters from Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales, who went blank, like the rest of the paddock.
However, there is some suspicion among brokers, who have doubts about the suitability of the solution that has been adopted. This is how Quartararo verbalizes it, who, in addition, considers that the inclusion of that ‘S’ does not benefit him because it leaves one of his strong points in Spielberg without effect.
“First of all, we’ll see how the safety issue is at that chicane, because it seems to be even more dangerous than before the modification”, says el Diablo. “In any case, the modification made to the track will not help me, because the third corner was a point where I could brake super late,” says the boy from Nice, who argues that, with this variant, the bikes They will arrive much slower at that turn 3, which should now become 4.
