Let’s talk MotoGP: Have you noticed a detail that costs so much at Pecco Bagnaia?

This weekend in Malaysia ends with a new victory for Pecco Bagnaia in MotoGP, the tenth already this season. But, as is often the case, he is still moving away from the world title. A rather paradoxical situation which can be explained, this time at least, quite easily. A new fall in Sprint, undoubtedly one too many, destroys any hope of a title in Barcelona. What do you think of the Bagnaia weekend as a whole? Do his victories serve any purpose? Did he lose the title at Sepang? And above all, what is this detail which greatly penalized him in this second part of the season? Analysis.

A fall not so serious

As contradictory as it may seem, this fall, in my opinion, is absolutely not harmful. It in no way taints his season, and even, it was legitimate. I will have the opportunity to talk about it again later but obviously, the title was not decided at Sepang. The Italian was 17 points behind before setting down in Malaysia: it was high time to try something. It was necessary to push, and above all, in this specific context, don’t let Jorge Martin escapewhile not being caught by Marc Marquez.

He fell while trying to get his title, and certainly not under pressure as I have read here and there.
I much prefer this approach rather than yet another conservative race like he did two in Australia and one in Thailand on Saturday. It was no longer time for calculations, it was up to him to go and make history. Expecting a crash from a driver as solid as Jorge Martin this season would only have amplified the disappointment once the campaign ended.

Two pilots and the rest

On Sunday, as in qualifying, there was no match. Jorge Martin had one of his best laps in Q2, but Bagnaia did better. During the race, the two broke away immediately and offered us a short but tasty explanation. Honestly, I didn’t expect Martin to attack so much, even if he was quick to let Bagnaia go once he saw the difficulty of the challenge. The “Martinator”, which we will talk about in more detail tomorrow, has remained faithful to its line: he attacks, constantly, regardless of the conditions or his situation in the championship.

But Bagnaia was stronger, which was ultimately quite predictable. In 2022 as in 2023, he was significantly better than Martin at Sepang. We can quite easily notice the difference in level between the two and the rest of the field, which reminds me of the 2013 season. At the time, we knew that Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez were going to dominate the majority of the sessions, and the more the season progressed , the more predictable and obvious it was. Here again, it came down to the last race, here again, one had more victories than the other, and again, the one who had more victories than the other lost. But in my opinion, whoever had the most victories deserved the title. I don’t know if I can say the same about the one who has triumphed most often this year, but we will have the opportunity to talk about it again.

A very expensive detail

With ten Sunday victories, it is legitimate to think that Bagnaia is stronger than ever. However, there is one point on which he has significantly regressed this season. Or maybe the others progressed and he didn’t, let’s say he lost an advantage. These are departures. Last year, I remember an exceptional Bagnaia when the lights went out. His extraordinary projection capacity allowed him to put himself in an ideal position without waiting. Afterwards, good luck dislodging him, given his braking skills. His sense of overtaking allowed him to put himself in optimal conditions very early in the race. Many past examples support this demonstration, but the most obvious is undoubtedly Indonesia in 2023. Starting 13th, he also managed to win thanks to the fall of Jorge Martin in front.

In 2024, it no longer makes the difference in the majority of races, this was still the case at Sepang. We see him struggling on his start tests, slipping, sometimes twisting his Ducati Desmosedici GP24 until he almost falls! The current MotoGP requires good flights, especially against Jorge Martin who has more or less the same qualities on the handlebars, and the same machine. If he had gotten off to a better start, I sincerely think he would have won in the Sprint, for example. It is possible to redo the season this way. Conversely, when he gets off to a good start, he is almost uncatchable : take Japan for example, where he might not have been the fastest, but where the others couldn’t do anything once he was in front.

At this level of competition, there are no small details. All drivers will tell you that the start is the key moment of a Grand Prix in the modern era.

I’m curious to know what you think!
So tell me in the comments!

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

Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport