If you’re a MotoGP team boss, how closely-matched do you want your two riders to be?
There seems to be no conventional-wisdom answer to a question like this, in most walks of motorsport. Many will say a clear ‘number one’ and ‘number two’ is just easier – no on-track dramas to manage because the two riders are almost never in the same part of the track, no ‘Mapping 8’-style codewords to think up, no ambiguity. In theory, anyway.
Then again, can you truly feel good about your line-up if one side is vastly outperforming another? Can you really believe you’re not leaving something on the table by having your ‘Rider B’ be a straggler?
The truth of it is probably context-dependent, not just in what the respective riders want and expect and what your partners want and expect, but in what you’re fighting for. If it’s a clear 1-2 every other week, then a three-tenths buffer between your riders is lovely to have. If you’re fighting tooth and nail with another manufacturer for every point and every win, you want to be doing it with both (all four) bikes.
