Part of the reason I love Mugello so much is that despite the mega-straight, it's still very much a corner speed track. Yamaha actually has a much better record there than Ducati or Honda over the past decade. As for top speed, I heard an interview with Oliveira's crew chief recently where he said they don't pay attention to top speed anymore, but rather how many seconds it takes to cover the straight. Makes sense, as it's actually quite rare for the top speed rider to also have the fastest lap...
It's hard to know how much Quartararo is single-handedly keeping the Yamaha competitive, and how much the other Yamaha riders just aren't able to bridge the gap. Dovi has all but admitted he can't do it anymore, DBinder sort of fell into the job because of legal issues, and Frankie has been absolutely nowhere since his injury. Separately, another interesting theory from Oliveira's crew chief was his theory that Quartartaro's long torso lets him get more weight over the front tire in the braking zone, as this Michelin front apparently grips best when loaded vertically.
And while everyone has been criticising Yamaha for falling so far behind on aero development, Fabio was able to make passes that Bastianini and Aleix couldn't, seemingly because they reverted to the smaller Yamaha aero package. Bestia crashed because he got too close to Aleix and got sucked into the slipstream. Fabio's biggest complaint has been his inability to pass without power, but the Suzukis bumped their power and it's gotten them nowhere.
As incredible as the Aprilia has been in FP for most of this year, especially at race pace rather than time attack, making passes in the race has obviously been a weak spot for them. I had assumed this was down to Aleix being cautious and his racecraft (and I'm sure that's still a huge factor), but it may also be because the massive Aprilia wing gets the bike out of shape if it follows too close mid-corner. This limits passing opportunities to ends of straights (not much use if the Ducatis are so much faster) and when the leading rider goes wide (a la Marquez in Jerez).
I think the bigger issue is the sheer volume of Ducatis on track, which is a problem Dorna needs to address. When five of the top seven for most of the race are on the same manufacturer's bike, it affords huge unfair advantages to some riders. I'm really hoping the rumours of VR46 to Yamaha next year are true.
I saw some folks complaining that the race yesterday was dull, but I was absolutely riveted. Sure, once in the lead, Pecco set out his stall at ~1 sec. ahead of Fabio and managed it from there. But there was plenty of action in behind, much of it with big championship implications. Pecco has jumped up to fourth in the championship and isn't done yet, Quartaro extended his lead over Aleix (though not by much), Suzuki generally is out, Honda is definitely out (hello Mir, possibly bye Marc for good), Bastianini is looking less and less like a true title contender (and will struggle more as Ducati further develops the GP22), Martin is out but will probably win a race or two, KTM can still do okay in the race but QP kills them, Maverick is the same but worse, Bezzechi is emerging as the most interesting rookie, etc.
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