I agree with all that, but there is also the complimentary view that these guys are supremely motivated and absolutely the elite and as such set themselves very high standards. There's no way these guys view a DNF as anything other than a disaster, but they all tread an incredibly fine line between winning and binning. I'd hazard a guess that, like last year, the Ducati will be refined as the year proceeds and we will see Pecco's consistency improve. It's the old 'is it the bike or is it the rider?' conundrum. Is Pecco over-riding the bike or is there something about the bike that isn't giving him the feedback he needs? I simply don't know.westers151 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 11:03 am I know I'm coming across harshly about all this, especially as they're only human, and we do make mistakes, but these guys are paid (very well) to find a way to dance that wafer thin line between crashing and not crashing, so when they make mistakes regularly, my patience grows thin with them.
As for last year, I'm fairly certain that the crucial event that allowed Pecco back into the championship race was Fabio's banzai move on Asparagus the Elder at the Assen chicane. If Fabio hadn't made that move I'm fairly sure that he and A the E would have been on the first two steps of the podium (not sure which way round) and Pecco would have been looking at losing more points to Fabio rather than cutting the deficit by 25. That was the crucial point of the WC for me.
And I'm sure that MM93 is feeling more than a little conflicted after Austin. Rins winning on a non-factory spec Honda, first Honda win since 2021 and the only thing MM was firing up was the BBQ. But on the other hand, all his rivals are tripping over themselves with no clear main contender and the points difference to the front is not that big. He must really be rueing the rush of blood to the head that caused his Portimao accident.
