MotoGP Qatar GP: Bagnaia Wins First Race as Acosta and Marquez Take Center Stage

The highly anticipated first race of the 2024 MotoGP season was held at Qatar's Losail International Circuit and did not disappoint. Much like the Moto3 race before, the start of the MotoGP race was delayed. Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez had trouble with his year-old RS-GP, after the warm-up lap. As a result, there was another warm-up lap and the race distance was reduced by one lap resulting in a 21-lap race. In the end, it was reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia who not only took the race win but also took hold of the top spot in this year’s Riders’ Championship. The second and third place in the race and the Riders' standing were taken by Brad Binder and Jorge Martin, respectively.

MotoGP Qatar GP: Marquez vs Acosta 

Beginning in the second row, Marc Marquez made a daring move to pass Jack Miller and Enea Bastianini, securing fourth place. At the same time, Pedro Acosta demonstrated his speed by quickly passing Fabio Di Giannantonio and Aleix Espargaro farther down the circuit. Acosta secured sixth place by passing Bastianini at the conclusion of lap three, and Martin secured second place by doing the same thing a few turns later on Brad Binder.

Acosta doggedly pursued the eight-time world champion, Marc Marquez, even though Marquez had trouble keeping up with the leading trio. On lap eight, Binder made a move on Martin to take the lead after Bagnaia's lead had grown to more than half a second. By lap nine, Bagnaia had accelerated enough to close the one-second gap. In response, Martin took back his position from Binder on the first turn.

The next lap saw a change of second place as Binder passed Martin on the run-in to turn one. Acosta successfully passed Marc Marquez at turn one on lap 12, after they had maintained their positions for several laps. This allowed Acosta to launch a bid for fourth place. On lap 14, Acosta made a mistake that cost him the place, and Marc Marquez took over. With seven laps to go, Acosta had fallen farther and lower in the standings, and he was now third behind Alex Marquez and Bastianini.

In the battle for third, Marc Marquez rapidly closed back in on Martin but the Pramac rider instead gained time on Binder as he eventually dropped the Gresini rider.

MotoGP Qatar GP: Honda and Yamaha

What is disappointing to see is that the Japanese manufacturers have not made a significant step forward. While that was expected somewhat of Yamaha, I was expecting something more from Honda after all the updates they brought to their bikes this year. Fabio Quartararo managed to finish ahead of any other rider on a Japanese machine in both the Sprint and main race. But that is a testament to his riding skills and not the capability of the machine. 

On Sunday, the Yamaha MotoGP team's Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins voiced their doubts about the competitiveness of their Yamaha M1 machines. Not only does this shared fear affect the riders personally, but it also casts a bleak light on Yamaha's hopes of rescuing their performance at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The two Japanese manufacturers who are lagging behind their European counterparts have failed to make substantial progress in the field, despite making substantial alterations to their motorcycles.