The blue-white-red catastrophe. From the 3rd lap of a Dutch Grand Prix which will therefore not have smiled on Johann Zarco or Fabio Quartararo, even if the second named can at least be delighted with his 3rd place on Saturday in the sprint race, and a much better 4th place in qualifying than his previous ones. A slight improvement which could however only be cyclical – linked to the specificities of the Dutch circuit of Assen –, and not carrying promises of a bright future for “El Diablo”. Especially since the 2021 world champion left the circuit with a left foot in obviously poor condition.
For the two Frenchmen, the race therefore only lasted barely more than two laps. A very bad start, Quartararo was in 12th place just ahead of Zarco, accustomed to difficult take-offs. Suddenly, the Frenchman lost the front of his Yamaha, and he dragged his compatriot, who was following him very closely, in his fall. A very damaging Franco-French strike. Far ahead of this fact of the race, Francesco Bagnaia, he shone. Surprised at the start by the excellent start of Brad Binder, who had already achieved such a performance on Saturday during the sprint, the Italian did not panic or hesitate to take control a lap later. Impressive since the start of the Dutch weekend, Marco Bezzecchi was watching this from 3rd place. It was then permissible to suppose that he was quietly biding his time…
Except that it was nothing. Less sharp than during qualifying or the sprint he won, Bezzecchi had to wait for the last laps to manage to get rid of Binder, but it was already too late to get a Bagnaia who had managed to build a small mattress of advance of a second and a half, more than enough to contain his opponent at Ducati. For the third step of the podium, Binder resisted the return of the tandem composed of Aleix Espargaro, deserving despite a motorcycle with uncertain aerodynamics after contact at the start of the race, and Jorge Martin, author of a good comeback but who lost precious points in the World Championship to the benefit of a Bagnaia now endowed with a 35 point lead over the Spaniard. But the South African was penalized for having exceeded the limits of the track at the end of the race and finally finished 4th behind Espargaro. He had experienced a similar mishap on Saturday during the sprint race at the end of which he lost his place on the podium for another trajectory fault.
