MotoGP races are normally pretty chaotic things – but this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix may well go down in history as one of the craziest ever thanks to the late arrival of rain and the ensuing chaos that lead KTM’s Brad Binder to a second MotoGP race victory at the team’s home race.
It wasn’t just Binder who was impressive though, with a combination of talent, bravery and luck meaning that the whole results sheet was turned upside down – and as a result giving more than one rider their best ever day in MotoGP.
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.
Brad Binder – 10
Started 10th, finished 1st
Brad Binder might not have been the fastest rider at the Red Bull Ring – but he was definitely the bravest, and sometimes that’s all you need for your cards to come up.
Stunning his opponents by staying out on slicks then putting on an incredible display of bike control in the wet, this might not mark the turnaround his season has been searching for, but it was one hell of a result nonetheless.
Pecco Bagnaia – 9
Started 3rd, finished 2nd
Pecco Bagnaia was perhaps the only rider in Sunday’s race who managed to look strong in both conditions with an impressive early attempt to control the race in the dry and an even better charge through the field after switching to wets.
Twenty valuable points on a bad day for many of his prospective title rivals mean that it might have been the most important race of the year so far for Bagnaia.
Joan Mir – 8.5
Started 7th, finished 4th
Joan Mir is the master of damage control, and he showed that once again at the Red Bull Ring.
Going just fast enough in pretty much all conditions, he was perhaps aided a bit by the rain, which allowed him to close down the leaders.
From then on, he followed rather than led – and closed down Fabio Quartararo’s championship lead in the process.
Jorge Martin – 8
Started 1st, finished 3rd
No one has ever questioned Pramac Racing rider Jorge Martin’s intelligence – but he played it even smarter than usual this week, talking down his chances of a double win and making sure no one was putting him under pressure after his breakthrough victory last week.
That’s what makes his late charge through the field (seemingly from nowhere at all!) even more impressive. The 23-year-old doesn’t need to keep demonstrating his excellent bike handling skills to us, but just in case anyone had forgotten, his third podium in seven races should remind them!
Luca Marini – 8
Started 17th, finished 5th
Luca Marini is a smart kid. We’ve said that since he made his MotoGP debut.
But he’s not quite had a chance yet to put that into practice – at least, not until the heavens opened in Sunday’s race and he and his big brother Valentino Rossi seemed to make some sort of silent agreement to stick with slicks and put on one hell of a show.
While not quite able to finish on the podium like he was hoping to, it was still an absolutely superb effort from Marini.
Iker Lecuona – 8
Started 16th, finished 6th
It’s not often you get effusive praise from Valentino Rossi, but the nine-time world champion was gushing about Iker Lecuona after the race, thoroughly enjoying his scrap with him and Luca Marini.
And while the KTM rider’s excellent result might have been overshadowed by Binder’s win, his best-ever MotoGP finish of sixth place was still very good indeed, especially given the treacherous conditions.
Valentino Rossi – 7.5
Started 18th, finished 8th
By far Rossi’s best result of the year, for a while it genuinely looked like he was in podium contention.
In the end mugged by Lecuona and Marini, and then overhauled by some of the guys who changed to wet tyres, he still put on a great show – and for someone who admits he’s largely still racing for the fun of it, it was refreshing to see him genuinely delighted with the chaos he was a part of.
Aleix Espargaro – 6.5
Started 8th, finished 10th
Aprilia’s first MotoGP podium of the modern era genuinely felt like it was there for the taking for Aleix Espargaro.
But it wasn’t to be, with the Spaniard admitting that one bad minute in his whole race, when he locked up the bike braking for Turn 3, cost him his chance.
Eighth was still not a bad result, and the most important thing is that he and Aprilia demonstrated they’ve got the pace to fight up front at yet another track.
Fabio Quartararo – 6
Started 2nd, finished 7th
Seventh wasn’t a great result for Fabio Quartararo, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been either.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for him given how strong he was in the opening dry section of the race, but he really needs to spend some time working on his flag to flag bike changes at some point!
He didn’t find anywhere near the same speed on his second machine. But crashing it would have been much worse so it’s not a bad result in the end.
Enea Bastianini – 6
Started 15th, finished DNF
A bizarre technical problem means we didn’t get to see too much of Enea Bastianini in action in the Austrian Grand Prix, but we did see rather a lot of his bike.
The side fairing of his Avintia Ducati launched itself off the side of his bike at high speed.
Knowing that something had gone wrong and having the common sense to immediately pit rather than endanger anyone else on track shows a level of maturity from the reigning Moto2 champion.
Cal Crutchlow – 5.5
Started 20th, finished 17th
Realistically, just like last weekend Cal Crutchlow came to do a job and he did it by ensuring he finished the race, gathered valuable data for Yamaha and didn’t break Franco Morbidelli’s bike as he continued to fill in for him
He gets half a bonus point for not falling off despite a relative lack of recent MotoGP experience in a tricky race, though!
Marc Marquez – 5
Started 5th, finished 15th
On one hand, Sunday was, by his own admission, Marc Marquez’s best race of 2021, with an exceptionally impressive performance in the dry against Bagnaia and Quartararo.
On the other hand, it’s perhaps a sign of what he’s missing that the former undisputed master of flag to flag races has now crashed out of two in a row when both times there was a safer option to take.
Alex Marquez – 4
Started 14th, finished 9th
Alex Marquez is one of the few riders from Sunday who made his mistake early on and was able to salvage something from it, starting the race on a medium front tyre that just didn’t work for him.
Having gone backwards until the rain started, ninth is perhaps a little generous a result given his pace, but that won’t make any difference when it comes to the record books!
Alex Rins – 4
Started 13th, finished 14th
Pitting early, alongside Jack Miller, Alex Rins quite simply made a mistake and got his timing wrong.
Had he stayed out another lap or two, like the race leaders, there would have been more available than just two points.
There’s a lesson to be learned about hubris and herd mentality for the Spaniard from Sunday’s race.
Taka Nakagami – 3.5
Started 11th, finished 13th
Last year Taka Nakagami should have won at the Red Bull Ring, denied only by a red flag.
This time around, he was considerably more lacklustre – there’s not much to write home about from Sunday’s race in wet or dry conditions.
Managing to wobble around on slicks to the end, an earlier pitstop could have made all the difference on a day when there were big prizes available.
Miguel Oliveira – 3
Started 9th, finished DNF
Still not fully fit following last week’s crash, Miguel Oliveira can perhaps be forgiven for making the mistake that took him out of his team’s home race.
Yet the worst day for a rookie error is when your team-mate is at the top of their game, and the fact that Oliveira fell in the dry and not the considerably tougher wet conditions doesn’t help his score.
Jack Miller – 3
Started 6th, finished 11th
Occasional stunning performances bookmarked by periods of inconsistency and crashes are quickly becoming the hallmark of Jack Miller’s 2021 season – and the Red Bull Ring was no exception.
Never looking happy on the factory Ducati all weekend, he attempted to save it with an early dive into the pits for wet tyres – but even that wasn’t enough to do much with his weekend’s results.
Johann Zarco – 3
Started 4th, finished DNF
Johann Zarco hasn’t made many mistakes this season – but his rare screw-up at the Red bull Ring will be a costly one for any title ambitions he might have had.
Admitting that he never quite found a comfortable feeling from the front tyre of his Pramac Ducati all weekend, he paid the price in the race when really he didn’t need to crash out.
Danilo Petrucci – 2
Started 19th, finished 12th
Sunday was the sort of race made for Danilo Petrucci – and the fact that he failed to perform (for the second time this year in wet conditions) is pretty indicative of the scale of his problems at Tech3 KTM.
It’s not a good look when the vastly less experienced Lecuona took the team’s other bike to sixth place.
Pol Espargaro – 1
Started 12th, finished 16th
When a rider uses the word “disastrous” in their official press release quote, you know it’s been a bad weekend.
Pol Espargaro started the weekend the way he left off last time, searching for rear grip – and rather than finding any, he went even further backwards, admitting afterwards that he was completely lost.
From someone who believed they were a pre-season title contender, it’s hard to hear.
