Box Confidential: Who Is Title Pressure For?

Applicant: I’m under pressure…

Without distributing 150, 17 is the point that separates the first three (Fabio Quartararo, Pecco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro) currently classified in provisional MotoGP. His 3 drivers of his 3 nationalities driving 3 different brands. Recently they were asked about the level of pressure they were under and logically the three threw the ball. 81, 17 against Espargaro – and riding the slowest bike in the category, it should be Quartararo who should be under the most pressure, but this is exactly what he told Fabio, “more than I did. I can’t do it.” So the ball is on the court of Espargaro and Bagnaia. Bagnaia in particular is riding a wave of overwhelming results: four he’s first and he’s one second. Additionally, Ducati is officially recognized as the best bike in the category, and although Ducati won his Constructors’ title at the last Aragon GP, ​​their failure to win the title this season is more than their rivals. It would mean a disaster for the Italians. For now, Bagnaia lives up to today’s finish in Japan, where he finished second in the only practice session held, ahead of Quartararo and Aleix his Espaegalo. The difference between the three is 4/1000!… The end of the 2023 World Cup is terrifying.

Sleeping Giant: Honda, it’s only a matter of time.

Every time I come to Motegi, I can’t help but visit the Honda Expo. I can’t count the number of times I’ve visited his three floors, but over the years I’ve been impressed with his sporting achievements and level of skill. And it’s not a boilerplate, it’s just overwhelming. The level that Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaro were able to confirm first hand when visiting his new HRC before going to Motegi. After the integration of F1 (previously only responsible for motorcycles) Honda Racing his corporation took on a new dimension. After going through HRC-MotoGP, Marc and Pol were taken to his HRC-F1’s ultra-modern facility and they were both in awe. The resources and technology that HRC-F1 uses for his four wheels are nearly limitless, and those in MotoGP don’t work. In other words, Honda will any day stop traveling in a MotoGP caboose like it does now.No other brand is technically at that level. Someone in Japan wakes up one day and says, On that day, the phrase “Honda is Honda” would make sense again.

LIKE NEVER: Literally blink.

Today at Motegi, the top 15 drivers on the grid finished half a second behind. This minimum margin includes his six brands present in the category and drivers who drive in completely different ways. Incredible. And it’s not that MotoGP has gone down in level, quite the opposite. His FP1 pole for 2019, the last time he raced here in Japan, was 1.45.572. Jack Miller’s today he was 1.44.509. So, Nakagami set the 15th record with 1.46.763. Today, the Japanese rider, who injured his hand, ranked his 12th place and stopped the stopwatch with a best lap of 1.44.886. Today he divided his 0.5 seconds separating the top 15 by his 14 corners on the circuit to visualize the margin separating the MotoGP riders, and today he was 15th (Jorge Martin) at each corner. See how fast you had to run. Pole. Divide 0.035 seconds by 14 to get 0.035 seconds of blink duration. Using blinks as a unit of measurement isn’t enough to measure the difference between Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia’s 1st place and his 2nd place at the end of the day… unbelievable.