Following a third DNF in four races at the German Grand Prix, Francesco Bagnaia's title aspirations were all but done. Reigning, defending MotoGP™ World Champion Fabio Quartararo was in the form of his life. Six straight top four finishes including three dominant victories and two second place finishes had many saying he already had one on reclaiming the Tower of Champions.
However, just four races later, the title picture has a startlingly different look to it. As Bagnaia kicked his season into overdrive with four straight victories, Quartararo has stalled. The Frenchman's lead has been cut from 91 points to only 30 heading into the crucial season run-in where six rounds in eight weeks will decide who is crowned the 2022 premier class King.
Quartararo's first error of the season now looks to have been the catalyst for a lacklustre return from the summer break. Crashing twice at the Dutch TT saw the 23-year-old fail to finish a MotoGP™ race for the first time since the Portuguese Grand Prix in November of the year earlier. Meanwhile, Bagnaia quickly put his Sachsenring disappointment behind him by holding off VR46 Academy counterpart Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) to clinch victory.
Next up, Silverstone. Quartararo's clash with Aleix Espargaro earned him a long lap penalty, which hampered his race badly as he crossed the line in eighth. At the front, Bagnaia held off Maverick Viñales' (Aprilia Racing) late charge to claim an unlikely victory after being nowhere all weekend long.
Two weeks later, we rolled in the Styrian hills with everybody expecting a Bagnaia hat-trick to be completed. The Italian was faultless to reclaim the Red Bull Ring as Ducati territory but the ride of the day came from Quartararo who, despite the Yamaha's obvious deficiencies, crossed the line in a commendable second place.
The four-peat was then wrapped on home soil as Bagnaia once again showed his mettle by taking the chequered flag just 0.034 seconds clear of his 2023 factory teammate Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing). Quartararo found himself inside the top five but another 14 points lost made it an eye-watering 61 that the Frenchman had lost in the space of just 20% of the season.
In the final six rounds of 2021, Bagnaia was able to claw back 44 points on Quartararo with two of his four victories coming at Aragon, the next destination in the 2022 title chase, and Valencia, the venue of the season finale. But Quartararo can take comfort from upcoming visits to Japan, Thailand and Australia for the first time since 2019. The Frenchman finished second to the all-conquering Marc Marquez three years ago, whilst the fast, flowing nature of Phillip Island could hide the Yamaha M1's frailties.
Plus, rule out Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) at your peril. The Spaniard might have gone off the boil slightly in Austria and Misano, two circuits he openly admitted to disliking, but the upcoming circuits are places he'd had genuine success at. Aragon and Phillip Island were places the Aprilia RS-GP showed serious promise at even before the Rivola revolution, so the sky is surely the limit now.