Let's talk MotoGP: Pecco Bagnaia missed his date with history

It’s time to take stock. Like every year for three years, Let's talk MotoGP is embarking on a fairly important undertaking: taking stock of each driver at the end of the 2024 season, today, Pecco Bagnaia's turn. For a good part of the winter, we will go back through the rankings in reverse, to the point of talking in detail about the world champion's campaign. Are you ready? Here we go!

Yesterday, we returned to the case of Marc Marquez; click here to find the corresponding article.

Torturous question

This is unprecedented. Never has a driver who won eleven times in a season lost the world title. Bagnaia, the big loser of 2024, will not be forgotten however. His season, both beautiful and tragic, was not rewarded by the gods of MotoGP. It's time to look into it. First of all, it is quite difficult to say whether it was really a failure or a success. Since nothing is completely black or completely white, I might as well answer gray, but I have the strong impression that that is not enough. We can only be decided. I don't see how it can't taste bitter.

Bagnaia, winner in Italy on the national holiday. A great moment. Photo: Michelin Motorsport

This is complex to analyze for several reasons. First of all, because the gap of ten points between him and Jorge Martin is misleading: in reality, these ten points were almost insurmountable given the regularity in the performance of the “Martinator”. The Spaniard, late in the season,
was no less strong than at the beginning, or in the middle. I think if there had been an additional Grand Prix, for example, he would still have won. On the other hand, when we look closely at all the opportunities missed by Bagnaia and his eleven victories, we say to ourselves that it's nothing.

Martin led for a long time, with a masterful hand in fact. Bagnaia was noticeably better, as evidenced by his number of successes. One was more regular, and the other, faster, and
It is extremely rare in history that the fastest does not win.

A simple fault

If it is sometimes difficult to find what a driver lacked to grab one or two places in the standings, it's easy to tell where these ten points are : in the gravel traps. Bagnaia just fell too far, that's all. Certainly, I would also say that he was unlucky; and this is something you don't see anywhere. No one in the media dares to talk about luck, as if it were an insult to Jorge Martin and that everything had to be explained. I affirm that Bagnaia lacked success. Whether with Marc Marquez in Portugal, with Alex Marquez in Aragon, or with Brad Binder in the Sprint in Jerez, change the trajectory of one of the mentioned drivers by ten centimeters and maybe you have another champion.

Unlike last year, Jorge Martin did not suffer anything like this, and conversely, Bagnaia had been extremely lucky, especially in Barcelona. But luck is an integral part of sport, you have to know how to accept it and provoke it, in particular by not putting yourself in delicate situations. This does not take anything away from my previous postulate: fate has an influence that it would be unconscious to neglect. Whether he was hit or not, betrayed by his mechanics, or not, Bagnaia left too many points against an opponent as regular as Jorge Martin. This is the limit of his attacking philosophy revealed; personally, I didn't think it was attainable, wrongly. I couldn't see this magnificent driver losing, even if it could only happen that way.

Pecco can blame himself, but he did better, in his style, than he had ever done. Photo: Michelin Motorsport

Conclusion

To tell the truth, I had already spoken at length about Pecco Bagnaia following the last Grand Prix of the season, in an analysis that I invite you to find by clicking here. In conclusion, I would say that this year has not made him lose any of his legend, and even if the result is undoubtedly very bitter for him – losing to a rival in a satellite team is the height -, history will not forget it though. Two months later, I am still convinced that he lost the title on his own. We can blame him for falling too often, yes, but he couldn't win eleven Grands Prix if he didn't push his own limits so often. It's the characteristic of great people, and it happened to others before him. Next year will come an even greater challengeand it will be interesting to see how he approaches it.

What did you think of Pecco Bagnaia's season?
Tell me in the comments!

As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial team.