MotoGP celebrated its newest winner at the Argentina Grand Prix as the series’ new era continued to divide reaction.

A depleted 17-rider grid took part in Sunday’s wet contest at Rio Hondo, which was dominated by sophomore Marco Bezzecchi to claim his first win and Valentino Rossi’s first as a team owner.

Listening to several riders after the enthralling Saturday sprint, Bezzecchi looked a shoo-in for victory if conditions stayed dry.

Despite his despair at seeing wet conditions on Sunday morning, he followed through on his sprint promise to take the championship lead from his fellow VR46 Academy chum Francesco Bagnaia – who crashed in circumstances reminiscent of his 2022 errors.

There were mixed fortunes for Yamaha in Argentina, while off-track rumblings surrounding stewarding continued.

With the 2023 MotoGP season well and truly in full swing now, here are the 10 things we learned from the Argentina Grand Prix.

1. Bezzecchi Ducati’s dark horse threat?

It'll be a happy Monday for Bezzecchi after his maiden MotoGP win

Photo by: Media VR46

Marco Bezzecchi was a name few gave much regard to when he was announced as a MotoGP rider for the VR46 Ducati squad for 2022. That quickly changed as he scored a maiden podium at Assen and a first pole later in the year in Thailand.

Continuing in the same surroundings but with the 2022-spec Ducati that won the championship, Bezzecchi enjoyed a strong pre-season as he could simply focus on fine-tuning his bike set-up and riding style.

Third in the Portuguese GP was a believable start to his campaign; after all, Enea Bastianini in 2022 on a year-old satellite Ducati won two of the first four races. While Bezzecchi didn’t think repeating Portugal every weekend was realistic, he was easily the strongest rider in Argentina.

The first to switch to slicks on the drying track in qualifying, he could well have taken pole had he not been delayed by Takaaki Nakagami during his bike swap. Holding onto second in the sprint gave many cause for concern, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro noting after: “I was on the limit to follow the guys in front and today I really didn’t see anyone really fast, just Bezzecchi has more speed than anyone. If he started first, for sure he was the man.”

From feeling “desperate” when he saw the grand prix would be wet, Bezzecchi’s tune changed after the rain-hit warm-up. At one stage over eight seconds clear of the field, Bezzecchi was untouchable from the moment he hit the front at Turn 1 off the line.

Now nine points clear in the standings, Bezzecchi can be considered a dark horse for the championship – chiefly, because he thinks he still has more to learn.

“I think it’s a little bit too early,” he said when asked about title thoughts. “Still, it’s just the second weekend. Now we will go to Austin, which is a track that is very difficult and where Marc [Marquez] is normally unbeatable. I think it’s a little bit too early at the moment. I would like to enjoy this day and try to learn every time. But we will see in a few months.”

2. Yamaha doing a good job alienating its patient star

Quartararo's struggles with Yamaha continued in Argentina

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

In the off-season Motorsport.com wrote a feature about who needs a big year in 2023. Yamaha was on that list as it enters a critical phase in trying to keep a hold of the one rider who, at this stage, can actually win a championship on the M1.

Argentina was a nightmare for Fabio Quartararo. Slow from the off, Quartararo struggled for rear grip on acceleration on the low-grip Rio Hondo asphalt and couldn’t get the bike stopped in the way he needed. This conspired to rob him of corner speed – the Yamaha’s key strength – and he could do no more than 10th in qualifying, ninth in the sprint and seventh in the grand prix after being punted off on the opening lap by Nakagami.

Quartararo spent the whole weekend chasing his tail, throwing new set-up after new set-up at a bike he said doesn’t feel like his own in a bid to improve his form. He says this is basically down to Yamaha not having a ‘real’ day of testing until the final day in Portugal last month ahead of the opening round.

“I mean, ‘lots of positives’, I wouldn’t say that,” Quartararo said of his weekend. “But it is positive that in the wet we showed great pace, we showed that in the dry actually our first day of test we had was the last day of Portimao and we don’t have our base.

“FP1 we tried a bike, FP2 we wanted to try but it was still difficult. In the sprint race I started with another setting. If the [main] race was dry I would have tried another bike. We are still not ready. I’m always angry because I want to be up there, but I know there is a lot of work to do to be on top.”

Team-mate Franco Morbidelli’s low-grip prowess came to the fore at Rio Hondo, which helped him to fourth places in qualifying, the sprint and the grand prix. Quartararo took solace from this and was able to – likely for the first time in over a year – utilise data from his team-mate.

While it was a heart-warming result for Morbidelli, past form suggests it won’t last. Thus, Yamaha needs to start delivering for Quartararo what he needs to mount a title challenge, something he admits he cannot even think about right now having failed to battle for a top five in 2023.

But the longer this drags on, Quartararo’s patience will run out and his eyes will start to wander later in the year when contract negotiations for beyond his current deal in 2024 begin.

3. Old habits die hard for Bagnaia

Bagnaia was back in the dirt crashing in the grand prix

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I was wondering if this year I was a better rider, more precise, without mistakes, doing better things. And in the second race of the year I crashed. So, it’s something that makes me very angry.”

Erstwhile championship leader Francesco Bagnaia’s crash out of second in the grand prix harked back to the ways in 2022 which left him battling a 91-point deficit in the standings.

To that point, Bagnaia genuinely looked like he’d banished his old habits and in Argentina looked nailed on for second when he passed Alex Marquez on lap 15. As for how the crash happened, Bagnaia is completely baffled, but clear it was his mistake.

Perhaps his self-criticism was a tad harsh, but the fact he was the only rider to crash under his own steam in the wet Argentina GP only rubs salt into the wound.

Ducati now must help him banish this crash from the back of his mind and get him focused for Austin. However, Bagnaia's Argentina spill at the end of a much more complicated weekend than Portugal has perhaps shown a weakness his rivals can exploit in the coming races.

4. Honda appeal being handled correctly, but FIM changes still needed