Bagnaia had “accepted” his defeat at Sepang

Pecco Bagnaia therefore failed to reverse the situation in the championship to prevent the title of Jorge Martín, leader since the Aragón GP and ultimately crowned by ten points. Arriving for the third year in a row at the last race in the fight for the title, the Ducati rider found himself this time in a very unfavorable position, which his perfect copy over this weekend was not enough to erase.

It is with the honors of an 11th victory that Bagnaia concludes an eventful season, during which he was the author of great performances as well as retirements with serious consequences in the general classification. He joined the very closed circle of those who have won more than ten times in the same season, where the Pramac driver has only won three times in the space of 20 Grands Prix. They both added seven sprint race victories, with Bagnaia also having a slight advantage in qualifying.

In a duel for the second year in a row, their domination became a trap for Bagnaia when he would have liked other bikes to join in the fight to push the Pramac rider back and deprive him of points. He couldn't count on it in Malaysia, where he repelled Martín's first match point but saw him finish second. This was however the case in Barcelona, ​​with Enea Bastianini in the sprint and Marc Márquez on Sunday, only Martín had enough of a lead to see it coming.

Before the last act which took place this Sunday, the gap between Martín and Bagnaia will have been a permanent yo-yo, a “championship of errors”as the Italian described it with, concerning him, seven falls and several technical or tire problems. The Ducati rider expressed his regrets without waiting for this final, and he admits that he had finally accepted his defeat at Sepang.

“I had already accepted it after my sprint race in Malaysia,” he declared this Sunday to the official MotoGP website. “I understood that it would be very hard to win the championship, so I just tried to do my best in these three races but it wasn’t enough.”

Despite his experience of the previous two seasons, Bagnaia admits that he ultimately lacked a certain maturity, having been guilty of the mistakes that Martín precisely managed to erase. “Jorge has learned this season that sometimes it is better to be patient and finish second than to win. He did a fantastic job and he deserves the title,” he greets.

“From our side, we couldn't have done anything better. I think if you add up all the other drivers, they don't reach my victories this season,” continues Bagnaia, somewhat bitter while he is at the head of 18 successes in the Grands Prix and sprints. “We can therefore consider ourselves very satisfied, but for next year, we need to improve in certain areas.”

“Maybe I need to understand certain situations better because I was taken out three times by another rider, I had a problem with the bike and then I crashed four times for very small things… I have to improve and I will try to do that for next year. I'm a driver who never gives up, but sometimes it's better to think more and finish fourth or fifth rather than crash, and that's something I'm going to learn.”

Bagnaia has dwelt on his mistakes a lot, and they don't do justice to the impressive performances he achieved, with his 11 Grand Prix victories out of a total of 16 podiums, as well as seven sprint wins and six pole positions.

“It was a championship with two faces, I think: strength and consistency. Jorge had consistency and we had strength. We completely dominated, but it wasn't enough because Jorge had 16 second places [six en sprint et dix en GP, ndlr] and me two. It’s something I have to learn and I’m going to study it.”

A rapprochement this summer, which did not last

It is precisely in Barcelona that Bagnaia showed his biggest delay this season: he was in fact 44 points behind after the sprint of the GP of Catalonia, in May, well before the circuit was chosen to host a second event for the championship final. This rather chaotic first part of the season, punctuated by retirements, regularly saw him appear in fourth or fifth position overall, while Martín never went lower than third place.

A big series of results from the Sunday race in Catalonia saw Bagnaia erase his delay, even swapping positions several times throughout the summer. He regained the lead in Germany (displaying his biggest lead over Martín, namely ten points) only to lose it again in Great Britain, before recovering it again in Austria.

The next Grand Prix, in Aragón, saw Martín return to the lead, after which the overseas tour cost the Ducati rider more points. He went down to 29 points after his fall in the Sepang sprint, which allowed his rival to get some air and have a first opportunity to be crowned. It took a victory for the outgoing champion the next day, then another yesterday in a sprint race to maintain the suspense. But not many people believed it anymore and Martin did what was necessary to be titled by signing a 16th podium this Sunday.