Losail, Qatar

With MotoGP now one third through its 18 race season, the effect of the engine-life regulations - restricting each MotoGP rider to just 6 engines throughout the entire season - is starting to become clear. The latest engine information list - assembled by IRTA and MotoGP Technical Director Mike Webb, and distributed (if you can call it that) by Dorna - provides an interesting perspective on the impact the regulations are having, and how the factories have approached the problems posed by limited engines.

The clear winner that emerges from the list is surely Honda. Of their six riders, three (Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, and San Carlo Gresini's Marco Simoncelli) have used just two engines, and not had to have a third engine officially sealed. Dovizioso and Simoncelli have distributed their races equally, with three races on each of the two engines, while Dani Pedrosa has four races on his number 1 engine, and just two on his number 2 engine.

We have made no secret of our scepticism about MotoGP's season opening night race at Qatar. It delays the start of the season and is more about the spectacle of the lighting than the actual racing. But even we have to admit it produces some great side-effects. Here's our current favorite: Valentino Rossi during qualifying, trail-braking into a turn, his carbon-fiber disks lit up cherry red, as captured by MotoMatters.com's star photographer Scott Jones

In the hours between the warm up and the first ever Moto2 race, the tension down the far end of pit lane - which housed the Moto2 teams - grew and spread, cloaking the garage and pits like spider web and creating an almost tangible resistance to those passing through. I could almost taste it in the air as I passed through the paddock for a final time, before heading back to the press room to watch the races.

Things had barely been much less tense shortly after qualifying the day before, when I bumped into FTR boss Steve Bones, head of the chassis manufacturing firm supplying the Aeroport de Castello - Ajo team of Alex Debon, and the FIMMCO Speed Up team of Gabor Talmacsi and Andrea Iannone. Bones, looking simultaneously delighted and nervous, with FTR's M210 about to be put to the test for the first time, spoke to me briefly about the way things had been progressing for the Buckinghamshire-based chassis manufacturer.

"Overall, we're pretty pleased with where we are," Bones told MotoMatters.com. "Alex [Debon] is on the second row and Gabor [Talmacsi] is not so far behind. With the times this tight, we're happy to be close to the front." The debut of the Moto2 class had shown up how little any of the teams or manufacturers knew about the class, though. "There's still so much to learn," Bones added, highlighting aerodynamics as one area that FTR felt they could improve on.

Roger Lee Hayden was not the only guest on the OnTheThrottle.TV live video show after this weekend's racing. Monster Yamaha's Ben Spies also came on the show, to talk about his first race as a fully paid-up member of the MotoGP paddock. Here's what Spies had to say about how qualifying and racing went:

Nicky Hayden found some answers on Sunday, and showed he hasn't lost his mojo

Dani Pedrosa's drawn out and public falling out with Honda continued at Qatar

Meanwhile, his Repsol Honda teammate showed there's not that much wrong with the RC212V, pushing Rossi hard for the win

Big Ben's tough qualifying was followed by an outstanding race

This was about as big as Valentino Rossi's lead got

Scorpion