Aleix Espargaro criticised: “Not correct, he did whole race for Jorge Martin!”

Aleix Espargaro drew criticism from Enea Bastianini after Sunday’s Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP.

Jorge Martin claimed the 2024 championship by finishing third in the grand prix, with his best friend Espargaro coming fifth on the track that he famously excels at.

Aprilia’s Espargaro spent parts of the race locked in a fiery scrap with factory Ducati rider Bastianini for P4.

Bastianini ultimately lost out, finished seventh, and lost out on third-place in the overall championship as a result.

He hit out afterwards: “I am not happy about what Aleix did.

“For me, it’s not correct. He is not the teammate [of Martin].

“It was not a clean thing.

“Without the fight with Aleix, it was probably possible to do something more for myself.

“He did the whole race for Martin! Of course, he is friends with Jorge.

“But you can’t do something like this.”

Bastianini continued: “I am not really happy about today.

“It was the last race with Ducati and I didn’t do the race like my expectation.

“I tried to do the maximum but I suffered from the start with the front. This has happened many times.

“I was fast in the sprint but, for the long race, we felt something.

“I lost many times at the start. I lost with Aleix today.

“It was impossible to do more than my result.”

Bastianinia missed out on third-place in the championship to Marc Marquez.

Next year, Bastianini is joining Tech3 KTM.

'Potential close to Martin, Bagnaia'

Bastianini’s two-year factory Ducati journey is over. His first year was ruined by injury and this year, he never consistently kept pace with title fighting pair Pecco Bagnaia or Martin.

“The potential is close to Pecco and Jorge,” he claimed.

“But I wasn’t consistent and I missed something.

“When I was in front, in qualifying and in the race, I stayed behind. “Then the opposite. This can’t be good for the title.

“If you want to win, you have to change this approach.

“I hope to be more lucky in the rest of my career. I know that I can do more than my 2024 season.”

'An incredible team'

Bastianini said about teammate Bagnaia: “We fought a lot, with a lot of respect.

“We were an incredible team, very solid. We worked to be much faster.

“The level was higher because of the work we did together.

“Sometimes we tried a new part on the bike, and we talked a lot to give the maximum to Ducati.

“That material arrived also to [Pramac].”

Bastianini said about the new champion: “Jorge has been very close to perfection during this championship.

“I am happy for him. He worked a lot to achieve this result.

“It’s not easy how he managed this race. He was perfect.

“I hope to fight with him in the future. He will be fast with Aprilia.”