Round two: Qatar

It’s not the first time that Valentino proves his mental skills, but in the last race in Qatar we witnessed the execution of a masterpiece. After crashing in Jerez and struggling in finding the solution to the chattering of his M1, it’s now clear that at the start of his second race of the season, he had a precise plan. The qualifications left him in the second row, behind Honda and Ducati, the two bikes that, as of now, are ruling the pre-race tests. Regardless, Rossi was aware that he could have had his opportunity once his tires had lost part of the grip because he would have had less chattering. Yes, a bike that slides and spins makes difficult to accelerate, but on these conditions Rossi is the master and the M1 probably becomes easier to ride than the competitor brands. So, given the conditions and variables he needed to stay in the front pack in the first part of the race to use his edge toward the end. And this is exactly what he did: starting from the 6^th position at the exit of the first turn he was already 3^rd. It took him 5 laps to pass Hayden and chase Stoner. The Australian talent was passed at the 9^th lap and then Rossi maintained the lead until the end with the exception of the 19^th lap when he left Hayden to take the lead, Capirossi to catch them and then to leave the two other competitors to dice while him running away to win his first race of the season. It’s interesting to notice that he crashed the competition with 14 laps at 1’57, against 9 for Hayden and 10 for Capirossi, and the bulk of them were realized in the last 2/3 of the race, when Hayden was riding in the 8s. Capirossi put a few laps right before the end in the 7s to get Hayden, but it’s not surprise given his quality of “sprinter”. To really appreciate what Rossi was able to accomplish we should look at the other Yamaha: Colin went in the 7s only once at the 3^rd lap and since then he became progressively slower finishing the last 2 laps with a time of 2’ 00.

My personal bet is that during the season we will have more races like in Qatar where Valentino’s superior riding and mental skills will offset the gap between Yamaha and the duo Honda – Ducati. In what seems to be a chess game, their riders had the advantage of the first move at the opening but Rossi’s strategy is clear: he will use all the tactics he knows to collect points and victories to prepare the final battle against the real challenger, that as of now is still to soon to call by name.

Picture source