Untouchable Bagnaia blazes on

No one could come close to stopping Francesco Bagnaia from compiling a perfect weekend under the Austrian sun at the Red Bull Ring.

Bagnaia blew away his rivals taking pole and the sprint before leading every lap en route to a crushing 5s ahead of Brad Binder, who scored second on KTMs home turf.

In hot conditions Binder tried to keep up with the reigning champion, but quickly ran out of breathe.

Marco Bezzecchi overcame Alex Marquez to stand on the final step on the podium, while Jack Miller had a day to forget, slipping from third to 15th, 25s off the pace.

If it wasn’t for a post-race penalty for Pol Espargaro, Miller would have missed out on points.

Unlike the Sprint, it was a clean start as Bagnaia flew from pole to lead from Binder as Miller and Marini went side by side for third into chicane.

The Aussie won the battle to put two KTMs into the top three, but the #43 was not in the fight for the win.

At the end of a clean lap one it was already a two-horse race with Bagnaia and Binder 0.7s ahead of Miler.

Maverick Vinales lost six spots on the first lap from second to eighth as Jorge Martin did the opposite, surging five spots to seventh, but had a long lap penalty hanging over him for his part in the Sprint smashup.

On lap three Binder set the fastest lap of the race as the gap to Miller increased beyond a second as the Australian had his work cut out keeping Alex Marquez, Marini and Marco Bezzecchi behind.

By lap four Marquez got past Miller at the penultimate corner and before too long the VR46 riders also gobbled him up.

As Miller slumped deeper down the top 10, the sister KTM of Binder was also struggling with Bagnaia’s lead increasing to seven tenths with two thirds to go.

By lap 13 Miller was about to drop out of the top 10 until he finally managed to address his slide by passing Enea Bastianini after the factory Ducati made a mistake at turn four.

It proved to be a false dawn however, with the KTM only staying ahead of the #23 Ducati for a handful of laps.

Shortly after Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo then kicked the #43 out of the top 10.

Joan Mir was out for good as he crashed out once again in more pain for Repsol Honda, while Marc Marquez only just held in to a top 15 spot.

Up front Bagnaia’s gap broke the 1s barrier at the halfway mark but the fight to the join them on the podium was more intriguing.

Bezzecchi made a deep lunge at turn one and got by Alex Marquez, but only for a heartbeat as the #72 bowled a wide.

Six laps later he had a look on the outside of the chicane, but the Gresini rider held firm.

He finally found the overlap by the time they reached the penultimate corner and got the job done.

Marini tried to follow his teammate through at the fast double left hander on lap 25, but Marquez was not having any of it.

The #73 stayed strong on the inside, but the resistance only lasted another three corners.

This was one of the few battles that kept fans entertained during an unusually sedate MotoGP race.

Bagnaia now enjoys a huge 62-point lead over Jorge Martin with Catalunya calling on September 1-3.

2023 Australian Grand Prix results

1 Francesco Bagnaia 42:23.315

2 Brad Binder +5.191

3 Marco Bezzecchi +7.708

4 Luca Marini +10.343

5 Alex Marquez +11.039

6 Maverick Vinales +11.724

7 Jorge Martin +12.917

8 Fabio Quartararo +19.509

9 Aleix Espargaro +20.231

10 Enea Bastianini +20.729

11 Franco Morbidelli +21.527

12 Marc Marquez +23.027

13 Johann Zarco +24.259

14 Augusto Fernandez +25.365

15 Jack Miller +25.475

MotoGP championship after round 10

1 Francesco Bagnaia 251

2 Jorge Martin 189

3 Marco Bezzecchi 183

4 Brad Binder 160

Image by Gold and Goose

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