Paul Carruthers | May 7, 2013
I’d be willing to bet that by the time Jorge Lorenzo closed his eyes on Sunday night after a very disappointing Spanish Grand Prix, he was more mad at himself than he was at Marc Marquez. If he awoke still angered, then he needs to watch the video of the last corner again and again until he calms down… the door he left open – ironically on the entrance to the newly named Lorenzo Corner – was a hell of a lot wider than ajar and the youngster didn’t hesitate to push his way through the opening. And nor should he have.
The mistake was Lorenzo’s. All Marquez did was take advantage of it. And, let’s not forget, it was the last lap. Look up last lap in the dictionary and it should read, “all bets are off.” If Marquez had busted up the inside and rammed Lorenzo like that on lap four, eight or 12, he would have deserved a punch in the nose. On the last lap… well, all bets are off. He earned himself second place and the extra points that come with it. And those points might just mean the difference between winning the World Championship or not winning the World Championship when they’re all added up for good on November 10 in Valencia.
But don’t take this as me thinking that Marquez is going to be World Champion this year because I don’t – though my conviction wavers a bit more every race when I watch this kid battle. My money still sits with Lorenzo because as much as I believe that the two-time World Champion had calmed himself after the Marquez incident, I also believe that his focus quickly changed to what’s really important: Getting the Yamaha to work a bit better so he’s not in that position next time. I’m sure that was his focus on Monday morning at the one-day test at Jerez as he turned his attention to Le Mans in two weeks time and not on what happened the day before.
