Álvaro Bautista “felt like he was a passenger” even before he suffered a brake problem around the halfway point in Estoril World SBK Race 1.
World Superbike has often seen Bautista struggle at the start of races in recent years, but the effects are more noticeable than ever in 2025.
A drop in speed at the start of a race is usually associated with poor qualifying, sometimes resulting in late fees for the Spanish rider, as well as accidents and crashes with other riders in the group.
However, in Estoril he achieved a season-best third place and took an early lead. After falling back to third place after being pushed back by Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Brega, he came under pressure from Jonathan Rea and several others, all of whom showed speed in all areas of the course except the straights.
Bautista was eventually able to find his pace and open up a two-second gap over Andrea Locatelli, but admitted after the race that the early stages were particularly difficult.
“I started in the front row. I haven’t been in the front row for over a year, so I was very happy,” Álvaro Bautista told WorldSBK.com.
“But I knew in the race that I would struggle quite a bit in the first laps, so it was really difficult to keep the pace of Toprak (Razgatlioglu) and Nicolò (Brega).
“The start went well, I just started leading the race, but the first laps are always difficult. I felt like I was more of a passenger than a rider.”
“I tried to stay calm and not take any more risks than necessary. And there was a clear thought in my mind: ‘Don’t make any mistakes,’ because there have been many times in the past where we had a chance to close the gap to third place in the championship, but something happened and we lost more points than we gained.”
“So today was a day for me to make no mistakes, stay within my limits and get as many points as possible.
“When I got into third place, I felt it (with some riders behind me), but I just held on and the bike felt a little better, so I started pushing a little bit.”
At one point in the race, Bautista was able to open up a gap to fourth place before going wide in Turn 1 on lap 12. He said this was due to a front brake issue, which affected the rest of the race to some extent.
“I had a problem with my front brake midway through the race and lost all the gap I had gained,” Bautista explained.
“So I had to restart again. I adjusted the lever, but in any case I didn’t get very good feedback at the braking points in the second half of the race.
“I just tried not to make any mistakes.”
Regarding the front brake issue, he added: “I arrived and my brakes stopped working, so I missed the first corner at that point. Then after a few laps I was very careful.”
“I adjusted the lever and did two laps. One time I went too far and the other time I went too close, so I was fiddling with the brakes more than concentrating on riding.”
Bautista was struggling with Jonathan Rea before his pace improved in the second half of the race. Jonathan Rea was another rider who encountered front brake problems during the race.
Bautista said he focused not only on the rareness at Estoril, but also on the strength of the Yamaha R1.
“It was good to have Jonathan (Rea) behind me. He’s really strong at this track, he’s won in the past, and there are a lot of corners where the bike needs to turn, so the Yamaha seems like a bike that will work really well here, even on the long straights,” Bautista said.
“I knew he was stronger than me in many situations, so I tried to be more careful not to let him overtake me, because if I started fighting, it would probably get worse and I could make more mistakes.
“So I always tried to stay in third place. At the end, I could open up a little bit of a gap with them.”
Petrucci’s injury ‘part of the game’
Bautista (and Andrea Locatelli) were given the chance to close in on third in the World Superbike rider standings at Estoril after Danilo Petrucci was declared unfit after Friday’s FP1 due to the worsening condition of a hand injury he sustained during training.
Bautista’s third place in Race 1 means he trails Petrucci by 15 points in the standings with five races remaining, and while he admits his rival’s injury was not what he was hoping to do to close the gap on the championship, he feels it is “part of the game”.
“Closing the gap is not how I like to play, but it’s part of the game,” Bautista said.
“We’ve had a lot of bad luck so far this year, and that’s part of the game.
“I hope he (Petrucci) can race at Jerez, because it’s always nice to fight against other riders on the track and win or lose points.”
“We wish him a speedy recovery and we’ll see in Jerez if he can fight for third place in the championship. He’s also very close to Locatelli, so let’s see.”