Espargaro: ‘When I have to be critical I am, we lost a lot of points’
Whether it was traction control cutting engine power at Phillip Island or an alarm error on his dash during the formation lap in Motegi, Espargaro has seen his MotoGP title hopes drastically change since the flyaway races began.
Espargaro is now 27 points down on Francesco Bagnaia in the MotoGP standings, while pressure from behind in the form of Enea Bastianini and Jack Miller is being applied for third.
Still, Espargaro’s target remains to finish ahead of Bagnaia and bring himself back into serious contention at Valencia.
"This is the target," said the Aprilia rider. "The goal is to try and stop Pecco which is going to be difficult because the form he has shown in the last few races, in fact, the second part of the championship has been amazing.
"I will try my best. I have a feeling that it’s more lost than won this title.
"I can risk a little bit more and be more aggressive on race day to hopefully bring me to Valencia [in contention]."
Leading Espargaro to say statements such as the title is more ‘lost than won’ comes down to basic mistakes at a time where points were there to be had.
Like Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo, Espargaro has failed to score in at least one of the last four races [Motegi], however, when he has scored points he’s been nowhere near the Ducati rider, hence the gap at the top of the series.
While the last few rounds will undoutebdly be seen as a chance to learn and put any mistakes right in 2023, Espargaro can’t help but feel like a golden opportunity is passing by, which is why the Spaniard has been more critical of the team in recent races.
Espargaro added: "We saw that in the race where we didn’t have data that we struggled a lot. We spent a lot of time doing basic things like the gearbox and the data we have from 2019 is completely useless to us.
"We changed [the bike] completely. It’s a good [learning curve] for us but we lost a lot of points in the last few races.
"I always say what I feel so when I see we did a good job or we improve it’s because I feel this. But when I have to be critical with the team then I am.
"I have a feeling that the last races we were not on a high level and we lost a lot of points.
"It’s very frustrating when you have the speed and in Australia I did the second fastest lap but then we faced some problems that we didn’t have to have happen. I feel it was quite basic problems."
