We’ve passed the penultimate round of the 2021 MotoGP season, and while the title fight might be over for him, Ducati racer Pecco Bagnaia continued to put on one hell of a show at the Algarve Grand Prix – and did so as the championship winners’ curse hit newly-crowned champion Fabio Quartararo, who failed to see a chequered flag for the first time this year at Portimao.
Beyond just the fight at the front though, there were, as always, all sorts of battles going on throughout the field – and despite the race being rather surprisingly devoid of huge drama compared to some recent ones, there’s still plenty for us to talk about.
With that in mind, we have, as usual, ranked the whole grid based on their Sunday performances.
Our MotoGP ranking system is simple: the riders who we believe performed the best are at the top, and the ones who underplayed are at the bottom, and scored appropriately.
It isn’t just about the end result though, with pre-race expectation and form heavily influencing their eventual score – not just the points they take home with them.
Pecco Bagnaia – 10
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
Simply sublime from Bagnaia, who made up for the previous race’s heartbreak at Misano with an absolute masterclass – a race performance so dominant that he almost made the whole weekend boring, which is a rare complaint heard to make about the modern era of MotoGP. Never put a foot wrong and earned the result he deserved.
Alex Marquez – 9
Started: 8th Finished: 4th
A really stellar weekend for the younger Marquez brother. Taking a tyre gamble early on in the weekend and somewhat leading the way for Honda, he translated his experience with the hard rear into an excellent race result – and it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for him, as without a late red flag, there was a podium on the cards.
Joan Mir – 8.5
Started: 3rd Finished: 2nd
Proof that when Suzuki brings upgrades, Mir can make them work. He’s been at a technical disadvantage all season, and the hope will be now that this is the start of a change of direction rather than just a blip on the radar. Though not able to hunt down Bagnaia but still able to catch and dispose of Miller, it was a good day for him.
Jack Miller – 8
Started: 2nd Finished: 3rd
Credit where it’s due for Jack Miller – the Aussie hasn’t had an easy year of it, but he proved on Sunday that he’s still more than capable of stepping up to the mark when needed.
Never quite looking capable of matching his team-mate Bagnaia but managing to drop only one place from his qualifying position to Mir, it was a solid day’s work for him.
Jorge Martin – 7.5
Started: 4th Finished: 7th
Jorge Martin admitted he was facing demons heading back to the site of his horrific smash that broke eight bones at the first Portuguese race back in April. So, to bury them and deliver an incredible qualifying performance and back it up with a solid race finish is top work for the rookie.
Johann Zarco – 7
Started: 5th Finished: 5th
Another ghost race for the Frenchman, Zarco is making up for his mid-season dip lately by just chipping away at the points in the final races of the year. No longer quite shining the same way thanks to the factory Ducatis finding their feet, it doesn’t mean he’s doing a bad job at all.
Franco Morbidelli – 6.5
Started: 9th Finished: 17th
Yet another example of where Franco Morbidelli’s race fitness – or lack thereof – is at. Much better this weekend in qualifying than lately, he’s clearly got the one-lap pace nailed, but the Italian really needs a winter break to sort out the remaining issues from his knee surgery.
Maverick Vinales – 6
Started: 18th Finished: 16th
Not the weekend that Maverick Vinales wanted, but at the same time, given the issues that Aprilia was having (as demonstrated by faller Aleix Espargaro) then a race full of data and another 20-odd laps of experience on the RS-GP was the best thing to take from the trip to Portimao.
Pol Espargaro – 6
Started: 6th Finished: 6th
Starting sixth and finishing sixth might not look to be too bad a weekend on paper for Pol Espargaro in his tough first season with Repsol Honda – but there’s one thing that instantly lowers his score. In the absence of Marc Marquez, his role is to be number one Honda, but on a weekend where cooler track conditions should have played to his current strengths with the RC213V, he still got beaten by Alex Marquez.
Enea Bastianini – 6
Started: 13th Finished: 9th
A bit of a sharp return to earth after the successes of previous weeks. Just inside the top 10 is perhaps a more realistic result for rookie Bastianini than the highs of his two Misano podiums. It’s nothing to be sniffed at – but it’s also fifth out of six Ducati bikes for the first time in a while rather than number one.
Andrea Dovizioso – 6
Started: 21st Finished: 14th
A little better for Dovi on the Yamaha, even if he did only earn points due to the falls that brought out the red flag. It’s further proof that the road to being fast again is a long one, though, even on an M1. He’s got lots of work to do ahead of 2022 if he’s going to be more convincing.
Luca Marini – 5.5
Started: 12th Finished: 12th
Yet again not an amazing weekend from Luca Marini but one in which he’s shown more steady progress. Happily into Q2 again as his one-lap pace comes to him faster than his race speed, it’s clear that he’s slowly but steadily finding his feet on the Ducati. Next year bodes well for Marini.
Stefan Bradl – 5
Started: 19th Finished: 15th
Standard issue Stefan Bradl weekend, really, with the test rider stepping in again for Marc Marquez and putting on a half decent performance to take home a point. The only negative really is when you compare it to his 2020 result at Portimao, but with bike fitness a factor he was never going to replicate that success.
Danilo Petrucci – 5
Started: 15th Finished: DNF
We don’t really know what potential Danilo Petrucci had in Sunday’s race thanks to the actions of another KTM rider, with Brad Binder in this case the trigger for the Italian’s fall at only the fourth corner of the race. A shame after a reasonably successful qualifying and practice, it’s hard to predict what would have happened for him
Miguel Oliveira – 5
Started: 17th Finished: DNF
Not managing to finish the race through no fault of his own, Oliveira doesn’t lose any marks due to his crash. But the reality is that his whole weekend was somewhat lacklustre as KTM continues to struggle to find a solution to its problems – and the 2020 Portimao race winner should never have been in a battle with Iker Lecuona for a low top 10 spot in the first place.
Aleix Espargaro – 5
Started: 14th Finished: DNF
It looked like a tough weekend from start to finish for Aprilia, and if there’s one time when a rider like Aleix Espargaro is going to crash, it’s when their back is up against the wall. Admitting he made a mistake, it was a pretty unexpected end to an overall disappointing weekend.
Alex Rins – 4.5
Started: 11th Finished: 8th
Arguably not a terrible performance from Rins, but he’s in the awkward position of being made to look bad by a team-mate on the same bike.
Mir was able to comfortably come home on the podium, and even more impressively stuck it on the front row, an area where Rins has traditionally had the edge.
Brad Binder – 4
Started: 19th Finished: 10th
For a Sunday specialist, Binder didn’t deliver much this week, and it’s only through the misfortune of others that he was both inside the top 10 and first KTM instead of third. Being completely lost as to what was going wrong isn’t a great place for a factory rider with a development role to be in.
Valentino Rossi – 4
Started: 16th Finished: 13th
It’s sad but normal that Valentino Rossi was happy to score points on Sunday, but outside the top 10 is the new norm form for him. The end next weekend really can’t come soon enough.
Fabio Quartararo – 3
Started: 7th Finished: DNF
You win some, you lose some, and at Portimao, it was new champion Fabio Quartararo who lost out, with his first crash of the season.
Perhaps a release of tension with the crown on his shoulders, perhaps a worrying sign that things aren’t perfect at Yamaha. Only time will tell that – but it’s almost funny to see it happen only when the big prize is his.
Taka Nakagami – 3
Started: 22nd Finished: 11th
A really disappointing weekend for Nakagami when the other Hondas were able to shine.
His qualifying crash and subsequent starting position was, quite frankly, an embarrassment, and he’s got to be going into 2022 under serious pressure from Honda now.
Iker Lecuona – 2
Started: 10th Finished: DNF
Of all the unnecessary actions that Iker Lecuona could’ve made to end a very strong weekend in Portugal, an over-ambitious lunge on fellow KTM rider Oliveira was definitely high on the list.
It was stupid, it wasn’t needed, and frankly, it demonstrates that while the Spaniard is obviously very talented, there are still tough edges that need smoothing out before he’s going to live up to his potential.
