HRC’s Alvaro Bautista returned to the WorldSBK podium at Catalunya after a frantic five-lap dash on Sunday morning.
For all the world to see, the Honda Fireblade has been getting incrementally better recently. For all the world to also see, the rest of its competitors have got better this year too, and at a seemingly faster or more potent rate.
So any kind of 2021 podium was going to be a top result for the bike that still seems full of unlocked potential.
The reality for Bautista at Barcelona on Sunday is that some riders missed out on the race that could have been in front fo him but he also rode well and used the long straight to his advantage, in race two as well, when he was fourth after 19 laps.
For Bautista, the track surface on Sunday was his main aid, bizarrely. “I don't know why, maybe the rain from yesterday cleaned out the track or something, but today it felt like a whole different bike, whole different track,” he said after the dust had settled on Sunday afternoon.
“But I felt much more grip. I felt that I can push and the bike helped me, because Friday or Saturday, just the bike is like on ice, so very strange. Today from the first lap, I felt, ‘boom!’ Like another track. Incredible! So, it allowed me to push and I did.”
That push gave him a podium that will have done much for the morale of the sometimes beleaguered Honda team. “In the Superpole race, I did a good start and I gained some positions. When I saw red flag, I thought, ‘shit’ - well, first of all, I thought, ‘I hope nobody is hurt’… But then when I saw more or less everything was under control, I thought, ‘shit! I was very strong’. So, I had to calm down because I was like up in my RPM, so I had to come down for the restart.
“I did and when I was there the first laps, I thought about last year’s Superpole race here that I was leading and I made a big high-side. So, I just stayed behind, watched the battle between Jonathan and Toprak in the first laps. I just tried to finish and not try to follow them because, especially in the first laps, we need something. I don’t have more to push. I can be very consistent during all the race, but the first part of the races I always lose because I cannot push more than I can. So, at the end, third position was fantastic.”
In the final long race of the weekend, Bautista said, “For the second race, for sure the track was worse. I felt a big drop from the morning, from the feeling I had this morning. I felt a big drop in general grip, for stop the bike and entry with the traction. So, it was more between this morning and Friday.
“At the end, I have to just understand the track and try to push the maximum. I cannot do more. I had some problems with the brakes. I don't know if for the temperature or what. The lever was closing every time to my hand. So basically every two laps I had to go far with the lever. At the end of the race I finished because it was too far. So, I have a problem, especially in turn one, one time that I brake but the lever was touching my fingers and the bike doesn’t stop. So, I come off of the track and I lose one-second or something more or less. There I lose my chance for fight for the podium. I think today it was possible to make a podium, but this is racing.”
Bautista, heading away from Honda and back to Ducati in 2022, thinks that finally all the hard work in 2020 and 21 is paying off more, if in a small way so far. “Anyway, I’m happy, especially because seems like from some races ago, we made… not a change, not updates, but like putting small details that in that moment seems like it’s similar, no big change, but at the end when you put four, five, six, seven, eight together, boom! You feel. It’s what we are feeling. We are like more consistent on closing the gap with the top. So, I hope to keep this improvement from here to the end of the season.”
A podium, for a rider with 16 race wins to his credit, is not something he gets excited about but he knows what it means to his team and colleagues. “I’m happy for everybody, for the engineers, because believe me they are working really hard, but what I said many times, in this championship, with these rules it’s difficult to make big change.
"They are working a lot in the small details to try to get the maximum with this bike. For sure, everybody deserves this result. In any case, for me, it was not like a kind of obsession, to do a podium this year. My obsession is to win! And I’m working for that. We are on the way. For sure, this track I was also myself fast in the past. So, we’ll see in Jerez that is totally different from here and there is no straight. I think it’s helping me a lot the long straight here.”
Why it took a year to go from one Honda podium to the next - Aragon in 2020 and Barcelona in 2021 - for Bautista is a mystery that was possibly part of the reason the Spaniard elected to go back to Ducati in 2022.
Maybe not, but he said of why it had taken so long,” I would like to know. Last year, I did myself more mistakes, trying to go to the top. It seems like this bike last year has a limit, and I was basically all the races over the limit. And from over the limit, I just finish one race third. I crashed many times. So, this year, I know the result if I’m over the limit. In fact, in Assen race one, I was in front and I tried to not push more, but just to be natural and don’t be warning with the bike. I crashed twice, so the way to do an improvement is just to try the maximum but don’t overpass.
“I think with the performance we have this season, last year for sure we were more close to the podium or more podiums. The problem this season I think is all manufacturers are closer and there are more riders in-between in the fight. So, I think performance is not so far from last year. Even it’s a bit better. No big difference. But result is worse because there are more riders. But the times between first and me are very similar last season.”
