Enea Bastianini’s face, invariably smiling, was tense on Sunday when he appeared in front of the media to debrief his Japanese GP. Winner of a successful duel against Marc Márquez the day before during the sprint, he had to be content to finish just off the podium in the main race, even though he was convinced of being able to win.
Admitting frustration and bitterness, Bastianini pointed to an overtake by Brad Binder on the first lap, from which Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín then took advantage, then Jack Miller a little later. A maneuver that he considered too muscular and vain on the part of the KTM rider, and of which he regretted then suffering the consequences until the finish.
“From frustration”, he testified, “because the first lap was not as I expected. After Brad overtook, still at the limit as often, I lost a lot of positions. I arrived at turn 11 with a lot of turbulence and I had no reference for braking hard.”
Asked if he considered Binder’s overtaking excessive, the Ducati rider replied: “No, he did his best, that’s normal, but it’s something I can’t understand because he knows the situation: after two or three laps, he’s slower.”
Although annoyed, Bastianini then moved up the hierarchy. He managed to regain the advantage over Miller on the fourth lap, then it took him seven laps to get back in front of Binder. Once he reached fourth place, he was two and a half seconds behind the podium and had already consumed too much of his tires to hope to gain an advantage at the end of the race, as he often does. It was therefore impossible to attack Márquez to steal his place on the podium, although he gradually got closer over the laps thanks to a very good pace.
“I still lost a lot of time to retake Brad, then the pressure [du pneu avant] was a little high, but I was fast and my feeling on the bike was very good. However, it was too late to try to get on the podium. I was very close to Marc but it was too late.” he lamented, while Márquez admitted to being afraid of what could await him when he saw the #23 Ducati approaching.
“My pace at the end was good, but so was Márquez’s. I tried to do something more in this part of the race but I also suffered a little with my rear tire because I had it a lot behind Brad trying to attack him. When it came time to push, I was already at the limit.”
After regaining two points from Márquez on Saturday, he lost three again, which leaves a minimal gap between them in the championship (two points) before the last four Grands Prix. Bastianini, who shows his desire to continue to pursue his personal goals without getting involved in his teammate’s fight for the title, intends to erase his disappointment next week, at Phillip Island: “It’s not my favorite track but I like it. I’ve been competitive there at times and I’m looking forward to catching up because today I was disappointed not to be on the podium. “
“The bitterness clearly comes from the fact that today I had the possibility and the pace to try to win, and knowing that in the end I didn’t even get the podium, it leaves me bitter, it’s Of course, when there are races like this, you can’t waste what you have.” he cursed before leaving Japan. And to add, also admitting his share of responsibility: “I will definitely try to study the first lap because if I suffered this overtake and many others afterwards, it is surely because I also made mistakes. I have to try to learn from my mistakes and not to reissue them.”
