And so another GP dawns and yet again the weather is going to complicate the issue. It is currently sluicing down and promises to keep doing so for the next day or two. And the track has been completely resurfaced. That means Michelin have brought four tyre choices for front and rear and FP1 and FP2 have been extended for ten minutes to give the boys a chance to try them all. Although that won’t happen if the weather doesn’t change. Neither will they do the five or six compulsory flying laps on one of the hard tyres that Race Direction have mandated, which looks like avoiding a panic should the track prove to be a tyre killer as some newly-surfaced circuits tend to.
Meanwhile the fallout from Assen continues to float down among us. It looks like the chassis that Valentino used at Assen, known a little erroneously as the “new chassis”, doesn’t suit Mverick Vinales. Why did he crash in Holland? Through trying to change direction too quickly while piling the power on – hence that odd get-off in the middle of the chicane. What was the strength of the chassis on which he did the first seven races of the year? “Changing direction quickly and getting the power on quickly.”
Mind you, they both might have to use both chassis. It seems the factory Yamaha riders have one of each available, which should make it interesting if it’s a flag-to-flag race and they have to change bikes. Valentino says he will start on the “new” one.
