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The 2021 MotoGP season roars back into full swing this weekend in Styria with Fabio Quartararo chasing his maiden MotoGP crown. After nine races, here’s how the season has panned out so far.
We turn the clock back to the end of March, where MotoGP prepared for a Qatari double-header at the Losail International Circuit. Eight-time world champion Marc Marquez was told not to participate in the season opener by health experts due to him still recovering from arm surgery, blowing the title chase wide open.
The season opener was won in emphatic style by Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales. The Spaniard made a late surge through the field to win the Qatari Grand Prix ahead of Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia, who pipped reigning champion Joan Mir across the line to claim a podium on his Factory Ducati debut.
For Vinales, his season would become extremely underwhelming, only appearing in the top five twice over the next seven races in Doha and Catalunya.
It was his Factory Yamaha teammate Fabio Quartararo that won the inaugural Doha Grand Prix seven days later. The Frenchman rode an excellent race in the Doha desert, despite dropping from fifth to eighth on the opening lap, as he cut through the field to seal his first victory for the Japanese outfit in only his second race at the team, ahead of his compatriot Zarco and Jorge Martin.
The series then took a two-week break before kick-starting the European leg of the season at the Portimao Circuit in Portugal. The hot topic was the returning Marc Marquez as he made a comeback to MotoGP action.
Marquez started sixth on the grid, and after turn one was up into fourth place ahead of pole-sitter Quartararo, but his race petered out to him finishing seventh in his first race in over nine months.
Despite dropping down the order for the second race running, Quartararo managed to make his way back to the lead of the race and was being chased down by Alex Rins, who ran deep into turn five and crashed with seven laps to go which bought an end to his podium chances.
It was simple business for Quartararo as he soared to his second race win in succession, ahead of Bagnaia and Mir who came home in third, after being gifted the position as Zarco crashed out of the race
The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez followed a fortnight later. Pole-sitter Quartararo got an excellent start and seemingly was on course to claim this third victory in succession until he was struck down with the much-dreaded arm-pump.
This saw the Frenchman drop down the order to 13th place, handing the victory to Ducati’s Jack Miller who was followed by his teammate Bagnaia in second with SRT’s Franco Morbidelli coming home in third and clinching his first podium finish of the 2021 season.
During the break in-between the race, Quartararo underwent arm-pump surgery ahead of his home race in Le Mans.
The home-hero finished third in what was a dramatic race in the Sathe. Soon after lights out, the rain started to fall meaning riders could change to the wet compound tyres if they wished and no later than 10 laps later the sun beat down onto the circuit.
During those 10 laps, race leader Marc Marquez was violently thrown out of the saddle and out of the race lead, which was inherited by Quartararo.
The race lead changed once again as the Frenchman was dealt a long-lap penalty meaning Miller would take the lead. The Australian was the eventual race winner as he came home ahead of Zarco, who snatched second place away from Quartararo with six laps remaining. Despite this, the Yamaha man remained very upbeat, stating that the third-place felt like a victory for him.
It didn’t take long for the Frenchman to return to winning ways as he won the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.
Again, despite starting from pole position, the potent Ducati drive helped Bagnaia take the lead but the Italian’s race only lasted a lap and a half as he tumbled through the gravel trap at turn nine.
Quartararo didn’t have it easy, as his fellow Frenchman Zarco wouldn’t back down over the coming laps, however, the Yamaha man held off the Pramac rider on his way to his third victory of the season with Quartararo joined by Miguel Oliviera and Mir after a fantastic late battle which saw Zarco drop to fourth.
Just seven days later, MotoGP touched down in Catalunya for the seventh round of the season where Oliviera took his first victory of the season.
The Portuguese rider snuck into the lead through the first sequence of corners on the opening lap, but Quartararo was determined not to make it an easy affair for Oliviera.
The duo battled for the lead which gave Zarco and Miller the chance to close in and overtake the Yamaha man, however, when the race finished Quartararo was demoted to sixth place after the zip to his leather race suit came un-done and he continued to circulate bare-chested for the remaining five laps.
The German Grand Prix followed, held at the infamous Sachsenring Circuit. Marc Marquez came into the weekend unbeaten at the German circuit in his MotoGP career.
The Repsol man started from fifth grid and made an electric start and was only behind Aleix Espargaro after the first few corners. Marquez made light work of passing the Aprilia man a lap later to move into the lead.
It was a simple victory for the Spaniard in the end, crossing the line to win his first MotoGP race since November 2019, ahead of Oliviera, who tried to close in on the Repsol Honda rider but failed to do so, with Quartararo coming home in third place.
Assen played host to the final round before the summer break, where Quartararo stormed to victory ahead of his Yamaha teammate Vinales, who stood on the podium for the first time since the season opener in Qatar, with Suzuki’s Mir clinching third.
The Dutch Grand Prix victory extended Quartararo’s lead in the standings to 34 points ahead of his fellow Frenchman Zarco with the Yamaha man now having a race-in-hand gap on the fiercely competitive pack behind.
After an exhilarating first half of the season, the MotoGP riders have spent the summer re-charging before jetting off to Austria for the Styrian double-header at the Red Bull Ring, where Quartararo will hope to further extend his lead at the summit of the MotoGP riders’ championship heading into the closing rounds of the season.
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