It was a funny atmosphere on Phillip Island on Friday night.
Nothing had really changed, but at the same time everything had changed.
Practice had gone ahead without a hitch, the circuit basked in glorious sunshine. But the forecast was close at hand for every team and rider, with brows furrowed about the viability of holding a grand prix in the high winds predicted for Sunday.
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Faced with the prospect of having flown halfway around the world only to end up without a grand prix, organisers acted fast, moving the long race to Saturday and switching the sprint to Sunday.
It means MotoGP will almost certainly get its feature race. The big points will be paid out, ensuring the tight championship battle retains its integrity.
But no-one is sure whether any action will take place on Sunday.
And teams and riders now face a sudden grand prix distance without the sort of preparation they normally rely on.
At a demanding and rapid track like Phillip Island, this tiny tweak to the schedule could have massive ramifications.
Nothing has changed and everything has changed.
RIDERS ENTER THE UNKNOWN
You might look at the revised format — which extends only as far as swapping the feature and sprint races — and think it’s not really a big deal.
After all, it was only last year that the sprint was introduced. The days are compressed, but aren’t teams and riders essentially competing to the old format?
Not quite.
Prior to this year’s changes MotoGP had typically comprised four practice sessions: one for reconnaissance, two for pre-qualifying, one for race simulation.
The sprint has effectively become a de facto race simulation session.
This change means the night before the grand prix, teams have limited data to delve into when considering set-up choices for the race.
“The sprint will not change a lot,” Marc Márquez explained. “But especially the main race will change more because you have less time to understand the rear tyre.
“It will be a bit of a gamble because we don’t know still the tyre consumption.”
It’s not quite the same for everyone, however.
Evidently those riders who enjoyed a strong Friday on the track were more confident of tackling a Saturday grand prix, notwithstanding the risk of rain and still strong winds.
“I don’t think it’ll change anything,” said Brad Binder after topping practice. “Normally by the time you get to halfway you have a very good idea of how it’s going to go. It’s just a few more laps.”
Jack Miller, who finished a close second, joked little would change for him after having endured a difficult run of form in recent months.
“I always like to go into the race unprepared because I do that every weekend!” he laughed. “I’m sure we’ll be able to fight with [the leaders].”
The most important question, however, is how this change might affect the title battle after a mixed day of practice for the championship leaders.
Miller starts strong, Bagnaia misfires | 00:49
WHAT HAPPENED TO BAGNAIA?
Francesco Bagnaia’s failure to make direct Q2 qualification for the second race in a row was the day’s biggest talking point before the schedule change, the Italian struggling to string together a competitive lap in a last-gasp stint on softs with only three minutes left on the clock.
He was held up by traffic on his crucial lap, and his follow-up time was enough to put him only 11th in the order.
It’ll force him into another Q1 battle, this one harder than the last: he’ll be up against 2022 race winner Álex Rins, Alex and Marc Márquez, Fabio Quartararo and Luca Marini for one of two spots through to the pole shootout.
The championship leader put his sketchy session down to tyre strategy, with the team prioritising learning the medium tyre’s behaviour for the race over the time attack.
Ironically, with the grand prix now looming, that work may pay immediate dividends.
“We worked more than the others on the tyre for the long race,” he said. “We started the session with the medium rear to try to make more laps on it, and my feeling was great, I was feeling good. The pace was one of the best with this spec.
“But as soon we put on the soft for the time attack I started to having problems.
“Maybe the best solution, the best strategy, was to start like all the others, more or less, with the soft to analyse before what was the reaction of the soft.
“We decided that the strategy maybe was the best one in terms of the race.”
He remained concerned, however, that there were fundamental set-up problems that still needed to be solved before qualifying and the race.
“I‘m struggling a lot on acceleration on the entrance of fast corners,” he said. “My bike is too aggressive, very nervous. For example, from the last corner to the finish line I’m losing two-tenths to [Jorge] Martin, and this is unbelievable.”
Perhaps forecasting a difficult outcome from qualifying, the title leader said he was optimistic about having the grand prix on Saturday and Sunday’s sprint potentially up for cancellation.
“I prefer the long race,” he said. “I love to race and to control. We are very good on it.
“In 2019 we started [15th] and I finished fourth. I think I’m a bit better in 2019, so comebacks are possible here.”
MARTIN MAKES A BIG STATEMENT
But there was no escaping the spectre of more Martin domination. The Spaniard had been in total control of MotoGP for the weeks before his crash in Indonesia last Sunday, but he laid down markers in both sessions to signal that his vein of sparkling form wasn’t yet done.
He topped first practice easily, and though he ended fourth in the afternoon, he rolled out of his fastest lap despite having looked on track to easily take top spot.
He was a picture of perfect confidence after the session.
“I feel super strong today,” he said. “In time attack I was straight away competitive, then the second stint there was a bit of traffic and a bit of a mess, but I was coming to make the [lap] record again, so hopefully tomorrow we can make it.”
He was also totally unperturbed by the prospect of having to race on Saturday, adamant that his homework was already done.
“Whatever comes will be good,” he said before the schedule change was confirmed. “For sure I’m ready for the race tomorrow. I’m making the pace here faster than last season.
“I was super competitive with the soft rear. Then I put another used medium and I was even faster, so it will be difficult to decide the rear tyre, because I did a lot of laps with them — even the front I did 27 laps and I was still in the 29s, so I think I was super strong.”
Weaknesses? There aren’t many.
“I’m still struggling a bit to overtake,” he offered. “I don’t know why.
“Starting at the front will be super important.”
Based on his Friday pace, he won’t have much problem achieving that.
MILLER AND KTM STAKE A CLAIM
While KTM has been hopeful of a decent showing at Phillip Island, a practice one-two was beyond expectations.
The RC16 was alive around the fast sweeps and in the warm conditions of Friday afternoon, propelling Binder and Miller to the top two stops easily.
It certainly caught Binder by surprise.
“Today was a really good day,” he said. “From the first exit this morning the bike worked really well. I was quite happy with it from the beginning.
“I was a bit worried coming here, to be honest, because last year was really tough, but from the first lap this morning I realised we‘re in another league compared to last year and the bike’s working great.
“I’ve got nothing too much to say. It was quite a good day. Most important is we’re through to Q2 tomorrow. Let‘s give it a send tomorrow and see how we end up.”
Miller had talked up his chances of a big result ahead of the weekend, and his second-place finish seemed to confirm his suspicions.
“You can‘t ever complain when you get Phillip Island in these sorts of weather conditions, not having to worry about wind or a frozen tyre into turn 4,” he said. “Pretty happy with the day. The bike’s working well. It got better and better every exit. I was able to throw a decent time in at the end there. Most importantly through to Q2, so it’s the best way to start the weekend.”
The step forward appears to be down to the new chassis, made from carbon fibre, which is offering way more critical rear grip to the riders, helping propel them around the track.
“I think the rear grip that we’ve been able to find in the past couple of grands prix is really helping us out here,” Miller explained. “The way this bike is through the high-speed changes of direction — it’s pretty agile and you’re able to find your line pretty well.
“It‘s working pretty good so far, so fingers crossed we can just keep that trajectory going and give it to these boys tomorrow.”
It’ll be fascinating to see whether the bike remains in its sweet spot on what’s forecast to be a marginally cooler but much cloudier day. Track temperature will be lower, and higher winds will cool the tyres more aggressively than the light breeze did on Friday.
Master those changing conditions, though, and KTM could be well in the mix for the podium places.
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