Let's talk MotoGP: The biggest waste in recent years?

It’s time to take stock! Like every year for three years, Let's talk MotoGP is embarking on a fairly important undertaking: taking stock of each element of the grid at the end of the 2024 season, today, the turn of a driver who could be considered, unfortunately, as a waste. For a good part of the winter, we will go back through the rankings in reverse, to the point of talking in detail about the world champion's campaign. Are you ready? Here we go!

Yesterday, we returned to the case of Raúl Fernandez; click here to find this episode.

My biggest disappointment

As I have often had the opportunity to repeat, no driver has surprised me positively this year. I've already talked about my various disappointments, but Miguel Oliveira gets the prize. Indeed, others were less good, and to tell the truth, objectively, it's hard not to attribute it to Bezzecchi. But the one I was waiting for was Oliveira.

After discovering the Aprilia at RNF in 2023, he was unable to express himself due to a black cat season. However, when he was there, he delighted me; I still have that overtake on Zarco in Austin in mind, or its magnificent British Grand Prix. From then on, for 2024, I saw him as the main outsider of the season, the one who could come and tickle the officials for a few races, without expecting more consistency. From the great Oliveira, in short. A bit like Augusto Fernandez, I have always loved this driver. I find that he has one of the best catalogs of victories in MotoGP, and that he is very underrated in general.

Suffice it to say that it was a cold shower. On a high-performance bike – he rode the Aprilia RS-GP24 from the start of the season, unlike his teammate – he only stood out once, in Germany, with a second place in the Sprint. Besides, he didn't really understand his performance either, which was not repeated on Sunday. The Portuguese also finished fifth in the Sprint in Aragon, but other than that it was poor. His ranking, 15th, speaks for itself.

Always the same problems

Miguel Oliveira has been carrying around the same three problems for too long. Firstly, his speed in qualifying.

This year again, he was particularly disappointing in this exercise. This does not help him in an era where he has to project himself very quickly in front, and, also, it exposes him to injuries caused by frequent falls in the peloton when everyone is excited when the lights go out. In a sense, it cost him his 2023 season.

Second, its regularity. In my preview concerning him, I did not expect him to have the same season as Brad Binder, because he has never been consistent in his performance, even in 2020, the year of his best campaign at the highest level. Oliveira has always been a man of brilliance, a brilliance that reveals itself two, three times per season – but in what way. And this year, apart from this second place at the Sachsenring, there was nothing of the sort. Except that when we add to this a latent lack of regularity, it weighs down the balance sheet. This is his worst season since his rookie year with KTM.

Certainly, it was ranked one rank lower in 2023, but with essentially the same total. This may seem difficult to believe: he was more absent during this campaign than he was during the previous one, but we noticed it much less.

This is my last point: like Alex Rins, he's never there. Certainly, once again, one could say that it is not his fault, that he is unlucky. As a reminder, an electronic failure in Indonesia sent him to the mat, resulting in a broken wrist. Except that it’s every year, or almost. He missed five consecutive Grands Prix, which means this is his seventh incomplete season since his world championship debut in 2011. It's too many, and it's bad luck, but the rules are same for everyone.
I will quote here the same adage that I used for the case of Alex Rins :
« availibility is the best
ability »or, in French, “availability is the best quality”.

Conclusion

I was seriously wrong about the case of Miguel Oliveira, it is indisputable. He still beats his teammate Raul Fernandez – with five fewer races contested! –, but is it really a surprise for a driver who, on a good day, can silence Jorge Martin, Pecco Bagnaia and others? No, and that's not enough. The strangely similar careers of Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira continue to merge, with increasingly repeated and longer absences. In short, it is worrying. Soon they will be united under the same banner, and I think Yamaha can already warn test rider Augusto Fernandez
that it could have more driving time than expected in 2025…

Tell me what you thought of Miguel Oliveira in 2024!

As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial staff.

Cover photo: Trackhouse Racing