Expert “clean” or “dirty” judgement on Marc Marquez v Pecco Bagnaia in Thailand

The 2024 MotoGP Thai Grand Prix was won by 2.9 seconds by Francesco Bagnaia over Jorge Martin, but it was a battle between Bagnaia and Marc Marquez for the lead that was the most intense portion of the race.

The battle between them saw Marquez try to attack Bagnaia in the final corner of the Buriram layout, a tight, first-gear right-hander. 

Bagnaia was able to square him off on the exit both times, though.

“Marc sent it from downtown twice into the last corner,” Michael Laverty said post-race on TNT Sports.

“He was brilliant, and confident he could stop it without tucking the front or risking Pecco.

“The cut-back from Pecco was clean. He gave Marc a bit of room.

“The second time? He doesn’t take it so lightly, and he squeezes him out a bit.

“You can see Pecco wants the cut-back; Marc tried to park it, he ran him towards the edge of the kerb.

“It’s not dirty. It’s letting him know that ‘I am here, I am going to fight back’.

“Marc wanted to get to the front. If he did, he might have set a nice rhythm. It wasn’t to be.”

Ultimately, Marquez crashed out just as he was closing back in on Bagnaia at turn nine. He remounted and finished 11th, but the crash ended his hopes of a fourth win of the season on the spot.

For Laverty, Marquez’s crash was not one of pushing to hard, but about trying to squeeze too much performance out of the front tyre.

“It didn’t look like he was over the limit,” Laverty said. “He was just asking a bit too much from the front tyre. Boy, did he try to save it!

“Like a tripod, he had his knee dug into the ground. If it wasn’t for the kerbs, he may have got it back. You saw his knee skidding on the ground.

“Unfortunately, that was his chance at a victory over.

“I couldn’t see a lot wrong. He may have touched the throttle just to keep the momentum up. He almost kept it upright.”

'Right decision to settle for second'

Marquez’s crash released Bagnaia into a lead of over two seconds over Jorge Martin, who never really threatened the Italian who eventually took his ninth Grand Prix win of the season and closed his points deficit to Martin in the championship to 17 with two rounds to go.

“He had a few moments which will have made him nervous,” Laverty said of Bagnaia’s race.

“But he stayed composed and settled into a rhythm which [Jorge] Martin could not match. Pecco [Bagnaia] was exceptional.”

Martin had led early, but made mistakes which ultimately brought Bagnaia, and to begin with Marquez, back into victory contention.

“Jorge made the early running, like he pushed on the opening lap,” Laverty said.

“The gap on his pitboard would have been coming down, so he knew Pecco was coming.

“He tried to up his game a bit. He went too deep on the brakes.”

Explaining the incident that saw Martin give up the lead to Bagnaia at turn three, Laverty said: “Jorge can’t decelerate in that last bit, like Pecco can. He gave up two places.

“He had a good look at Marc and Pecco but conceded that they had rhythm.

“I was worried for Jorge because he went wide so many times, deep into Turn 1 and Turn 3. If he kept pushing he’d have ended up on the deck!

“It was the right decision to settle for second, championship-wise. Give away the points, but bring it home.

“There was a lot of risk but he dealt with it well.”