Álvaro Bautista Blog, Catalunya: Penalties have to be accepted
After another home Grand Prix at Catalunya and the post-race test at the Montmeló circuit on Monday, Álvaro Bautista once again wrote down his impressions of the race weekend for the Spanish newspaper AS. Below you can find the complete translation.
A day later than usual I tell you about the Grand Prix in Catalunya where I was sixth, equaling my best position of the year and only four seconds behind the podium. The Marc-Pol mess was a race incident, but penalties have to be accepted. What I didn’t like was the whistling during the Spanish anthem.
A day late. Hey guys! Today I’m a day late, because as you know on Monday we had a test and I didn’t have the time to write you, but no worries, now I’m here to tell you how the Catalunya Grand Prix went. A weekend in which I finished the race with the least distance to the front since I’ve been in the MotoGP class. And also not to forget a good debate about what happened in Moto2. Come on, let’s get started!
Another round in Spain. I was eager to race again at home, with the passion and support the fans give us it’s incredible. You are the best. Aside from that, this circuit is one of my favourites, every time I ride it I enjoy it a lot and it also brings back fond memories, because I had good results here. I felt good with the bike from the start, working with my team and testing out the tyres to use in the race. Montmeló is unique and when you put new tyres on the laptime is much faster, but after two or three laps the performance goes down and it’s very important to have a good bike setup, so you don’t lose a lot of time each lap. I did the preparation work for the race well, but didn’t do well in qualifying and started from far behind.
Fundamental. As I told you before, in this class the start and the first laps are very important. From tenth place I didn’t start well and I got into fights with other riders, especially Rossi who – I don’t want to brag, but do you remember the pass he put on Lorenzo in the corner going on to the finish line? Well, I could pass him at the same point, it doesn’t have any relevance, but I liked that and I wanted to tell you about it. I was in sixth and saw how little by little I got closer to the guys in front who where fighting for the podium, but even if I closed the gap, I couldn’t reach them. I finished sixth, my best position this year, with the difference that in the other races I lost time towards the front and this time I closed the gap to end up just four seconds behind the podium. We are on the right path and sooner or later we’ll get there.
Mess in Moto2. From my point of view the controversy in Moto2 with Márquez and Espargaró was a race incident, in fact I’ve seen and experienced worse and absolutely nothing happened, no penalty. Seeing it on TV and knowing how the corner is where it happened, for me it wasn’t anything other than Marc narrowly saving the crash, he went a bit wide and of course tried to get back on the good line, the path he used all the previous laps. Pol, who was behind, saw what happened to Márquez and tried to take advantage of the little gap that had opened and when their paths crossed, it happened what happened. Márquez didn’t know Pol was there until they touched. And I also think that Espargaró should have taken out the gas a little, because at that point he couldn’t pass, but from the outside that’s easy to say. For me there was no penalty. What happened with Marc and Lüthi in Qatar was more punishable than this. When I saw that they gave him a penalty of one minute, it seemed absurd. Then they took it away, now returning to appeal for it to be put back seems unreasonable to me. This is a world championship, not a game between friends. I didn’t think the penalty was okay, but if that’s what Race Direction thinks you have to accept it. In the past I’ve had complaints for worse incidents and I always respected the decisions. We’ll see how all this ends.
Viñales. In Moto3 we enjoyed a nice race. With Maverick as the strong leader and a good fight to the finish for second place. The championship is tight and each race is a joy to watch, it takes your stress level to the top, hehe. Before signing off, I have to say that there was one thing I didn’t like about this Grand Prix. During the podium ceremonies for Moto3 and MotoGP, when they played the Spanish anthem for the same riders who the crowd applauded and cheered for while they raced, the majority of the main grandstand of the circuit whistled. Honestly, I felt it was ridiculous and disgraceful. Why weren’t there any whistles in Moto2 with the Italian anthem? Everyone will have an opinion, but I am proud to be Spanish and represent Spain in the world.
See you soon. And I already leave you, because today I’m in Alcañiz to continue with another day of testing. We have to continue improving the bike for my style. I can only tell you that I’m pretty happy with the work we did in Montmeló and that I hope we’ll continue the same way here. Greetings and I see you in a couple of weeks.
Source: AS.com
