Aleix Espargaró, sixth classified in the Sprint of the Portuguese GP, was not too happy with his first experience in the short race, the new format introduced by Dorna to revive the World Championship. "I only hope that this sport does not become boxing, because it is not," said the man from Granollers, annoyed with the "level of aggressiveness and tension" that there was, in his opinion, in the 12 rounds of the test that was awarded Pecco Bagnaia.
The Aprilia rider did not bite his tongue when asked about how he had lived the new short race format, in which he did not seem comfortable, behind his teammate Maverick Viñales.
“I hope it's a sport where the fastest wins, not the most aggressive. It seemed to me that in today's Sprint there was a very heavy level of aggressiveness and tension. But it is also true that it is the first race of the year, and that there is always a very high level of tension in the first long race, and also, there was a lot of air that made it difficult to stop the bikes...", explained the man from Granollers.
"We have to give it time, to see if we adapt and the danger and accidents that have occurred today decrease," he added.
The Aprilia rider, one of the most influential voices on the MotoGP grid, wanted to make it clear that he is not against the Sprints. “I have never said that I didn't like this format, I'm just saying that you have to give it time, understand it, see if the intensity drops a bit, the tension of the drivers. If people liked it, perfect, but I don't like that there are so many falls, so many crashes, as there have been. I'm not saying that the format is bad, I love running races, it doesn't have to be bad," he commented.
Asked if the aggressiveness and tension he perceived are a matter of the drivers' focus, Aleix Espargaró attributes this style of driving to a consequence of the short format: "If you put a race of 12 laps, 15 minutes, and you know that the Pace is not worth anything, in front of me there were two or three riders who had much less pace than Maverick and me, but they go out in front, they risk it and you can't overtake them. Aggressiveness is created by the number of laps in the race, that's how it is," he said.
And he illustrated it with his performance, in which he felt harmed by Márquez's pace: "I was blocked because I couldn't overtake Marc, we were going faster than him, who is a beastly braker, but time ran out for us." even though we had more traction and more cornering than him. Game over. I was starting to go fast and they were starting to go back when it was over. But the Sprint race is that."
In his critical line, Aleix Espargaró reflected on the new program for the Grand Prix weekend, in which everything is tighter, there is less time, the Sprint has been introduced on Saturday, and consequently, the two free tests on Friday they are more demanding to sift through the classification (Q1 and Q2) on Saturday. According to Aprilia's, this format has resulted in more crashes.
“Today Enea (Bastianini, right scapula fracture, Argentina will be lost), yesterday my brother, and today a lot of crashes due to the new format. Do not think that yesterday's falls were because we are in Portimao. They went for the new format, because on Friday afternoon we have to play the pass [to Q2], and we are not ready because it is still Friday, there were nine crashes, a red flag… We have to give him a little time".
