With every race that passes by, it looks more likely that Fabio Quartararo is going to get his hands on the 2021 MotoGP World Championship. After the Aragon Grand Prix, El Diablo took his total points tally to 214 points. Not only that, the young Frenchman holds a strong 53 point lead from second-placed Francesco Bagnaia. With just five races remaining in the 2021 MotoGP season, let’s have a look at who can stop Fabio Quartararo from winning the Championship.
1. Francesco Bagnaia – 161 points
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If it weren’t for those poor races right before the summer break, Pecco Bagnaia would’ve been right on the tail of the Frenchman. Currently, he sits 53 points behind the leader and is slowly finding his rhythm back. Before last week’s race, Bagnaia was sitting fourth on the table but a podium finish got him up to second and awarded him a chance to go at Quartararo for the title. Races like the Aragon GP could very well help the Italian on his way to glory.
2. Joan Mir – 157 points
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Joan Mir, the defending world champion has done pretty well this season by showing his consistency in races. Out of the thirteen races so far, Mir has stepped five times on the podium and has faced only one retirement so far. Just like Bagnaia, after last weekend’s race, the Spaniard finds himself 4 points behind the Italian but stands third and it looks as if his championship defense is not over.
3. Johann Zarco – 137 points
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Everyone thought that it would be Johann Zarco who was in contention with Quartararo this season for the Championship but things took a different route for the Ducati rider in the last few races. Every fan out there thought Zarco would step on the podium and would close the gap between him and Quartararo but he went out of the Austrian GP with a crash and finished outside the points at Aragon which put his title charge to hold as he sits fourth, 20 behind Mir, and 77 behind Quartararo.
4. Jack Miller – 129 points
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Jack Miller sits fifth on the points table with 129 points, 85 behind Quartararo. 85 points is a lot but you cannot rule out anyone until it’s not over. Miller showed consistency when he won back-to-back races at the Spanish and the French Grand Prix after which he finished sixth in two races and secured another podium at Catalunya. But, things changed for him in the last three races where he retired twice and finished P11 which meant that he only bagged a total of five points in his last three races. If Miller continues to perform like this, he could drop out of the top five in the upcoming races.
5. Brad Binder – 117 points
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Brad Binder currently sits sixth in the championship leaderboard with 117 points, 96 behind Quartararo. Before winning the Austrian Grand Prix, Binder wasn’t even in the top ten riders in the championship but a race win got him going. The South African has been promising this season and is squeezing every ounce out of that KTM. If he keeps this consistent form going, we could very much see South Africa’s first World Champion in the future.
[Image Credit: Fabio Quartararo]
Shashank Iyer