While MotoGP continues to serve up entertainment in both its title battle and rider market in 2024, its Austrian Grand Prix failed to live up to expectations on that front.
After an inconclusive Saturday sprint, an early breakaway by the dominant Ducati GP24s was followed by the third member of the group, Enea Bastianini, being dropped by the two leaders, before Jorge Martin had to wave the white flag in his pursuit of title rival Pecco Bagnaia.
It meant the podium places were a total certainty for most of the race, while the 18.620 seconds covering the top five and the 30.268s covering the top 10 were both season-high marks.
It was a far cry from some of the more memorable races in the Red Bull Ring's now nine-year MotoGP history, though far from everyone is convinced that the track is conducive to good MotoGP racing.
Luca Marini, who retired right away due to a problem with his Honda and was thus a spectator for much of the distance, acknowledged it was not an interesting race.
"I think here in Austria they're always boring races," he said - and when reminded as a counterpoint of the duels between Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso, said: "Yeah, because it was Dovi and Marc - but only them. Two manufacturers fighting for the title, once against each other.
"Now at the moment, with the Ducati that can play and manage everything, because only Ducati can fight with another Ducati, it's difficult to see those kinds of battles."
Marini's assessment does exclude the highly entertaining (albeit red flag-skewed) 2020 races and Brad Binder's famous slicks-in-the-wet win, but he is not alone in his feelings towards the track’s ability to generate a show in MotoGP.
"It's nothing we can do, the riders," said Aleix Espargaro. "When you are behind, the race is over. And there is no section where you can flow or you can gain time. It's just braking-accelerating-braking-accelerating. It's very difficult to be close to the others.
"For me this track is in the limit of safety, limit-limit, and for the show - which is completely another story - it's also not fun."
"During the races it's very difficult for all the riders to keep a good pace and keep a close gap with the rider in front of you, because of tyre temperature, brake temperature, etc," added Marini. "And then when you follow another rider it's more difficult to stop the bike.
"So you can see that every rider is more or less more than one second to the other."
The drop in racing quality has been attributed in some circles to the chicane installed two years ago as a safety measure between Turns 1 and 3, but riders' complaints this weekend - specifically regarding front tyre pressures and temperatures spiking out of control in the wake of rival bikes, and sometimes being impossible to recover even in several laps of clean air - are nothing new, though exacerbated by the Red Bull Ring heat.
A consistent theme, both in the battle out front between Bagnaia and Martin and those further down the grid, was that staying on the attack and putting pressure on a rival for multiple laps was not an option for some if they wanted to ensure their front tyre would get them to the finish.
"Now we just look for the pure performance," said Miguel Oliveira, the winner of a Red Bull Ring classic back in 2020.
"Pure performance now with the aerodynamics allows us to go faster. Reach higher speeds. But also you have to brake more - and the brakes, you can only go so far.
"So you have brake temperature, front tyre pressure..."
But Oliveira also had a weekend-specific explanation.
"We have a harder compound [here this year] which we can't use because we crash with it, because it's too hard on the edge, didn't have enough grip - then we raced with the softer [medium] tyre, which is usually the normal hard compound for most of the tracks, which is too soft, but it's the best compromise.
"So finally... yeah, it is harder to overtake. It's definitely not like it was five-six years ago, with the old MotoGP bikes."
The decrease in racing action would be a convenient explanation for dwindling crowd figures, with a likewise processional 2023 race followed by a dramatic year-on-year slash in Sunday attendance from 93,000 to 67,000 - although this is merely anecdotal, and other explanations have also been put forward.
And the direness of the show on display on Sunday also lends itself a bit too easily to being overstated - given there were still three position changes in the points-scoring top 15 on the final lap, and both Marc Marquez and Franco Morbidelli scythed their way through the field after their first-corner contact to reach fourth and eighth respectively having both been well outside the top 10 on lap one.
As Morbidelli put it, overtaking "is becoming more and more difficult... but it's still doable".
