Shanghai Review: An unfair advantage?

There is never anything surprising about Valentino Rossi riding the wheels off a bike to get a result that his equipment probably didn't deserve, but I have to keep reminding myself that there probably shouldn't be anything surprising about Casey Stoner winning another MotoGP last weekend in China.

Ducati have now won six from the last ten races. Stoner has the package and the right attitude, and now boasts a tally of more MotoGP wins than Honda's golden wonder, Dani Pedrosa. Killer stat, that. Wish I was a betting man; I'd have a new bike in the garage already ...

Rossi has been on the podium at three of the four races this year. Had it not been for the tyre problem in Turkey, he'd be right on the Aussie's tail in the title chase with a bike that is nowhere in terms of top speed. Very Rossi.

Further down the pitlane, Ducati have been the focus of attention. The red Marlboro Ducatis have dominated the chit-chat in the paddock and the press office. If one had a couple of beers, you might almost have believed that it would have been a Ducati 1-2-3-4 in China.

The Ducati GP7 © DPPI

Sure, they're quick, but Stoner has impressed upon us that very Australian edge that many sportsman have from Down Under. Very fast and very unforgiving. Just like Doohan was when he was pulverising them all in 1997. When accused of making it boring (Repsol Honda won every race that year), the grey-haired Aussie gave you that stare and said, "Well, what do you expect me to do; slow down?"

The rest of the MotoGP field in 2007 has been caught on the back foot. They were all looking at the Rossi/Yamaha, Pedrosa/ Honda battle that was meant to be the backbone of the season. The older master battling against the team he left in a huff, and the new man they've especially groomed to beat Rossi and the rest of the field.

You get the feeling that Honda winning the title by just eight points last year doesn't sit well in Japan. They probably wanted win the 2007 title by mid-August, just as they did in 1997 with Doohan.

That one's been thrown out at HRC. They've now got a bit of work to do, as Pedrosa was thrashed at the weekend. And for that to happen at a race track where he thumped everyone else 12 months earlier is going to be very hard for Honda to swallow. Hell, they'll be working hard in Japan to get back on top as soon as possible, but looking from the outside, they may well wait a while for that Champagne moment on top of the podium again.

Honda bosses made the two-hour trip over the sea to Shanghai for the race, telling journalists that there was still work to do on the V4 Hondas - and it seemed that once those words came out, Pedrosa could say the same.

There doesn't seem to be any power, and it is very surprising that that is the case. This is Honda, for Pete's sake. Hopefully the loss of speed has not come from the F1 team, otherwise Mr Wada has got an awful lot on his plate.

Back at Ducati, the next seven races are going to be critical for Stoner but he has a major challenge ahead, because Le Mans should be Yamaha's own.

"I still have a book open with a bad account from last year." Rossi said in China. Michelin just have to win it as it's their race, just as Bridgestone pulverise the others at Motegi, while Yamaha need to capitalise on the handling strengths of their chassis around the tight Bugatti Circuit.

But then we get back to the 'Harry Flatters' circuits. Mugello and Barcelona. Ducati have to win in Italy as a matter of national pride. Win or lose, they have to keep their heads and not drink too much Giacobazzi before Barcelona. If they don't, they'll lose the title. Barcelona is a Rossi favourite and he'll be buoyed there if Number 46 had won at Mugello. Should that happen, the Rossi camp will be smelling blood.

Loris Capirossi with a commanding lead on the Ducati in the 2006 Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno © DPPI

Stoner may well struggle at Sachsenring, as he didn't get to race there last year after injuring himself in a crash during the warm-up. That might rattle him. Or maybe not. Nothing has rattled him so far this season, has it?

Laguna must be Bridgestone's biggest worry at the moment. Underneath the Ducatis last year they were just hopeless black donuts that could either last 10 laps or 100; Capirossi finished a distant 8th.

Then after the summer break we have Brno, where Capirossi blitzed them last year. But maybe the confidence is not as high this time around, considering that Bridgestone's advantage at Jerez in 2006 was nowhere to be seen this time around. A conundrum.

Here and now it is, of course, a little too early to pick favourites for the autumn series of races, but the one thing we know is that Rossi will ride like he's possessed. He doesn't have an many off days, even if the bike is not up to it.

Number 46 rode one of the laps of his life in qualifying to beat the previous 990cc lap record, on an 800cc bike. That's mightily impressive considering that just three hours and 45 minutes passed between setting the bike up and the Doctor hanging it all out.

Whenever you hear any racer say, "Every braking was absolutely on the limit," You know it was a good lap ...

Remember, Yamaha don't have any top speed, but that again goes to prove just how well Rossi is riding his M1. He looked pretty peeved with life on Sunday afternoon before he got out of his leathers, but he didn't admit as much when asked. His body language was to the contrary, though.

He'd ridden every one of the 22 laps just as he had in qualifying, on the limit - and once over it at the hairpin - and had still been beaten. He was beginning to get the feeling that many others had had in years past when trying to beat him. Now he knows how Sete Gibernau felt in 2003 and 2004!

But returning to my point of how people forget just how talented Rossi is, he is good enough to only give away five points to the opposition in China rather than the 15 or 20 the doom-mongers were predicting if he came over the line behind the red Ducati train.

Valentino Rossi © DPPI

Some seem to have a short memory back to when Rossi won at Mugello and Catalunya in 2004, tracks where the out-of-puff, not-fast-enough Yamaha should been beaten by the Honda V5s and the Ducatis. Well, by the sheer talent and genius of the gangly Italian, and the Jerry Burgess-led crew around him, Rossi did win those races on the Gauloises Yamaha. I still don't know how he did it, but he rode the wheels off it with pure bloody mindedness. And he won. Not just well, but brilliantly.

No one protested and no one complained, as we knew it was the talent of Rossi that did it. Talent that we still know got him an incredible pole at Shanghai, and a second place come the chequered flag on Sunday.

He battled against the Ducati that was quick in a straight-line. Of course that helps the red bikes, but it's a swings and roundabouts championship with drag-strip circuits (Qatar and Shanghai) and some go-kart tracks too (Donington and Sachsenring). Last time I looked, I didn't see a rule about top speed being against the rules.

Nor did I see in the rule book that having Valentino Rossi as your rider was against the rules. This championship has a very long way to go, and Yamaha's advantage over the season may well be Rossi rather than top speed.

Nothing very surprising there ...