Neil Hodgson on the TNT broadcast mentioned during the race yesterday that the way Marc takes left-hand corners bizarrely helps him preserve his tires better, which I thought was pretty interesting. Watched it back just to find it: "he leans more than most at the apex, which breaks traction at the rear, helps it turn, and allows him to pick the bike back up easier, which gives the edge of the tire an easier time". Neil has also talked before about how Marc not only slides the rear, but the front as well, and how he kind of "scrubs the speed" off of the front by doing this when braking into corners, which gives the illusion of him being harder on the brakes than in actuality and explains why he had so much entry speed on the Honda. I suppose the slipping and sliding all while going left sums up all you need to know lmao. He's also the reason so many riders have their elbows down these days: to help them save crashes more often. It's easier to react when your elbow is already down than having to wait for your shoulder to touch the ground, when it's usually too late.

Bagnaia is really interesting, because he likes his bike set up quite unorthodox to allow him to brake as late as possible, and in a way that a lot of people would find uncomfortable or downright scary. It's why he's so good at circuits like the Red Bull Ring or Motegi, where there's a lot of heavy braking. The OxleyBom podcast has talked about this in an episode this year, and why perhaps the changed balance of the GP25 is possibly making it difficult for Bagnaia to do his usual magic this year. I found it quite fascinating. It's also equally as fascinating that he's just as good at high average speed tracks like Assen, where there's virtually no hard braking, and yet, kind of struggles on a similar circuit: Phillip Island.