Why Raul Fernandez’s winning Mugello Sprint strategy doesn’t work at Hungary MotoGP

Raul Fernandez’s winning strategy in the Mugello MotoGP Sprint wouldn’t have worked in the half-distance Hungary race, he says.

The Spaniard was dominant in the Mugello MotoGP Sprint last weekend, in part thanks to an alternative tyre strategy that saw him choose the medium-compound rear tyre instead of the soft-compound for the shorter race.

Such success with the different strategy in Italy a week ago might make it an obvious strategy to use again this weekend at Balaton Park, but Fernandez – along with every other rider on the grid – chose the soft-compound rear tyre this time and finished fourth.

The Spaniard explained that this was not the best for him and Aprilia, but that there is not the same opportunity to make use of the medium in Hungary as there was in Italy.

“For sure, to use the soft [compound rear tyre] is not the best solution for us, but here we don’t have chance to use the medium in the Sprint,” Raul Fernandez said after the Sprint. 

“Anyway, overall I think it was a positive day, we take points for the championship and for the team. I think we are in a good way.”

What about Balaton is making it impossible to use the medium-compound rear tyre for the shorter race?

“We spend too much time to warm up the tyre,” the Trackhouse Racing rider explained.

He continued: “Especially the medium I like on the right side, but here we have too many corners to the left. 

“So, the problem is that we spend too many laps to warm up the left side. So, for that reason I was not thinking to use it on the Sprint”

Fernandez, though, was pleased overall with his Sprint because he feels the Balaton layout is prohibitive to himself and Aprilia in terms of exploiting their strong points, and the Spaniard is optimistic for his chances in Sunday’s full-distance race.

“I’m really happy, to be honest, I think in the fact that we cannot use 100 per cent our style [but] we are quite competitive,” said Fernandez.

“Also, this morning [in qualifying] I made a mistake that I had a good potential to be in the first or second row – maybe the first row was too optimistic but the second row was [possible]. I made some mistakes. 

“In the Sprint I think we made a really good race. I tried to overtake Marco [Bezzecchi] until the end, but I don’t have chance because in this track it’s really difficult to be close, especially because I had overheating in the front tyre and when you have overheating it’s really difficult to try to attack because you cannot stop the bike. 

“Anyway, I think we have a good pace for tomorrow.”

Fernandez also suggested that the Sunday race will be a bit of a slow burner, with riders becoming more aggressive in the last part of the race.

“Here we don’t have a very [big] drop on the rear tyre, so you will see a very strong race of everybody in the last part of the race,” he said.

“So, we need to be calm, we need to see which is our performance. 

“We still have to improve two or three corners that we can make something better, and let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I am optimistic for tomorrow.”