MotoGP: Aussie Jack Miller has thankfully walked away without serious injury after a scary crash in the opening lap of the Malaysian GP
It’s a weakness that, for Francesco Bagnaia , has threatened to trip him up for the best part of two years.
The Italian won his second premier-class title last year in a completely different set of circumstances to his first, which came in 2022 when he spotted Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo a 91-point lead at the halfway mark of the calendar to deny the Frenchman at the season finale in Valencia. Bagnaia, by contrast, works best when he can burn slower; rarely does the Italian chase a fast lap time in practice, looking to dial himself in more methodically to deliver when it matters most in qualifying, and then the race.
Bagnaia ended up successfully defending his 2022 title when Martin crashed out of the Grand Prix in Valencia in the final round, but Martin outscored the champion by 28 points in sprints across the season … but lost the title by 39 points. Bagnaia outscored Martin by 67 points in 20 full-distance Grands Prix, masking his shortcomings in sprints.
In a sport where you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and where Martin and Bagnaia have proved to be a class apart from the rest – Marc Marquez, third in the championship, is a whopping 116 points behind Martin – it’s a drop-off that has doomed Bagnaia, and is set to become an asterisk in the MotoGP history books.
“This is a shame from my point of view, but Jorge was just better on the Saturdays this season and we have to say that he did a very good job there. Part of Bagnaia’s problem is that he – and Martin – have been so rapid that the rest simply can’t keep up.Malaysia’s qualifying session last weekend was a case in point; Martin obliterated the circuit’s lap record on his first attempt for pole in Q2, which Bagnaia somehow lowered by another two-tenths of a second as the clock wound down. Ducati’s Alex Marquez, best of the rest, was nine-tenths of a second adrift.
World Championship Points Sprint Points Malaysia Final Event Lap Record History Books Malaysia Review Half-Distance Sprint Francesco Bagnaia Title Defence Reigning World Champion Sprint Race Sprint Stumbles Premier-Class Title Fast Lap Time Barcelona Trails Fellow Premier-Class Era Europe Brilliant Victory Western Europe Event Weekends Reigning Champ Wins Pace Relative South-Eastern Asia Won World Championship Southern Europe Reigning Champ Half-Distance Sprint Races Enea Bastianini Championship Margin Jorge Martin Motogp Press World Championship MALAYSIA REPORT Malaysian Grand Province Of Barcelona Final Round Points System Agence France Presse Oceania Season Finale Province Of Valencia France Getty Images Inc. Win Rate Matt Clayton Final Lap Australia And New Zealand Half-Distance Races Final Long-Form Race Spain Marc Marquez Asia Title Rivals Stun Race Weekend World Title Sprint Races Pit Talk Wins Worth Australia Terrifying First-Lap Crash Valencia British Grand Indonesia
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