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Catalan Grand Prix poleman Aleix Espargaro says that his home circuit in Barcelona is now the worst on the MotoGP calendar in terms of the grip levels offered, leading a chorus of almost unanimous criticism of the track from his fellow riders after a tricky first day of action.
The Aprilia rider, who hails from only three kilometres from the circuit, narrowly beat Francesco Bagnaia to his fourth pole in MotoGP – with low-grip venues becoming something of a specialty of Aprilia’s RS-GP bike.
Yet Espargaro hasn’t been impressed with the level of grip available.
“It’s very, very low grip,” he explained. “Lower than low grip. I remember that Barcelona was always like Brno, but now we don’t have Brno any more so it’s the lowest grip on the current calendar.”
However, while Espargaro is normally one of the first riders to speak out about safety issues in MotoGP, he was only one of many at Montmelo, with an almost-universal agreement from his rivals about just how difficult it is on the track despite it being resurfaced only a few years ago.
“There was new asphalt four years ago, in 2018,” said Italian Grand Prix race winner Pecco Bagnaia on Friday, “and it was black then. Now it is white.
“Maybe it’s the weather, many track days, Formula 1, I don’t know, but if we look at Misano that was new in 2020, it is still completely the same – black and with a lot of grip.
“The problem is that every year it isn’t becoming a little worse, it’s a lot worse. It’s very difficult to go fast in the corners, in the braking you feel a lot of locking in a straight line, and it is dangerous if it becomes like this. At the moment we are on the limit, but if it gets worse again it will be a problem.
“I am like I didn’t ride today, because if I started the race now it would be like doing it fresh because I wasn’t able to push. I can’t push. You have to manage everything, braking, cornering, getting on the gas, because the grip is too low. The strategy of the race will be important because of this. It will be hard, very difficult, to make a fast race.”
And with hot conditions expected for Sunday’s race, Bagnaia’s Ducati team-mate Jack Miller admitted that it’s going to have a significant impact on the race by making it more difficult than ever to overtake as riders try to ride smoothly and cleanly.
“Honestly, I had a few moments,” he explained. “[Johann] Zarco came past me on my long run while I was on the hard front, tyre pressures were through the roof, the front was locking a lot, and you have to be very, very, careful. Like a wet race, almost.
“You do get some sort of feedback off it, but it’s not fantastic and by the time it’s gone, it’s gone. It’s a long race – 24 laps. It’s a long 24 laps and I’ve been on both ends of the scale where you haven’t used enough tyre and you’ve used far too much, and it’s going to be all about trying to get the balance right, to make sure your [engine] map isn’t holding you back but that you’re not spinning the f**k out of the tyre either.”
With Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya one of the hottest tracks on the calendar thanks not just to its location on the Mediterranean coast and the almost year-round sunshine that brings but also to the race’s traditional June date, just as summer begins to heat up on the Spanish coast, much of the grip issues has been traditionally attributed to this.
However, Bagnaia’s fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso indicated he believes that the issue lies somewhere else – presumably with how the track was reconstructed in 2018, even if he wasn’t in a hurry to get himself in trouble with MotoGP bosses by saying it outright when asked by journalists.
“I would like to answer,” he laughed, “but you will write what I say and this is not good! But I don’t think the asphalt is good, because the grip is so low and the drop in three years is so huge. For sure there is a technical reason.
“I don’t know what it is, but for sure there is a reason. OK, it’s very hot, but we race in some other tracks where it is very hot.”
The track has been quick to hit back at rider criticism, though, with circuit manager Josep Lluis Santamaria telling The Race that his team’s experience with the surface (and the fact that riders are riding at lap record pace) doesn’t exactly tally with the criticism directed their way.
“The track is perfect,” he insisted. “Yesterday we had a new record of the track [set by Espargaro], so that means that the tarmac is OK! Sometimes the riders, depending on the results, say ‘oh it is not good,’ but it is never the rider who is responsible.
“The asphalt is four years old and in my opinion the grip is good, good enough. It will last, I hope, more than six or 10 years more. We measured the international regularity index and it is perfect, which means that the surface is flat, and the grip is also good.”
