Pecco Bagnaia pinpoints exact moment that MotoGP title slipped away

Francesco Bagnaia came up short by 10 points in the 2024 MotoGP World Championship, and confessed Jorge Martin “did a better job”.

Bagnaia won more races than Martin in 2024, but also failed to score in eight races (including Sprints) compared to Martin’s tally of four non-scores.

The Italian rider said that he realised his hopes of retaining the MotoGP title were effectively over after he crashed out of the Malaysia Sprint at the penultimate round.

“I will accept [losing the championship] in some days,” Bagnaia told the post-race press conference at the Solidarity Grand Prix.

“But after the crash in Malaysia I understood that it was more complicated, to gain 29 points was quite tough.

“But I just tried to do the maximum, winning all the races remaining, and I think it was the maximum I could do.”

Bagnaia conceded that Martin had simply put together a better season, especially in terms of consistency, in 2024.

“Jorge [Martin] did a better job. In terms of consistency he was better, he finished [16] times second during the season, so it’s something unbelievable.

“From our side, we just had a bit of bad luck, and I had also some mistakes, so it’s difficult to imagine winning a title with eight ‘zeros’.

“We also beat the number of points compared to last season with eight zeros. So, I think we did a very good job, and we almost dominate the races in terms of victories, but it wasn’t enough.

“For next year, I will have to learn from my season, to learn from some situations that happened this season, and try to be better.”

After the race in Barcelona, Bagnaia was smiling as Martin celebrated. On the face of it, it’s an unusual reaction for a rider who has just lost a title in the final race of the season, but Bagnaia explained that he was simply happy for Martin’s own achievement.

“I was just looking looking at Jorge,” Bagnaia said. “We know each other very well, and I think if someone had to win the title that is not me, I’m happy for him.

“He deserves it, he did a fantastic job, and I was just smiling seeing him celebrating because I know how nice that moment is.

“You try to arrive to this goal all your life, and as soon as you achieve it it’s the best emotion you can have. So, I was just smiling for what he achieved.”

Bagnaia “proud” despite defeat

Despite losing the title he has won in each of the past two years, Bagnaia still declared himself “proud” of his 2024 season, which saw him enter the top-10 for all-time Grand Prix wins with 29, and win 18 races in total, including 11 Grands Prix which only Valentino Rossi (2002, 2005) and Marc Marquez (2019) have done before in the MotoGP era.

“I’m proud of the season, I’m proud of my team because they did an amazing job all season,” Bagnaia said.

“Every time I was having trouble they were helping me a lot to improve.

“I’m looking forward to [the post-race test on] Tuesday, I think that we have to try something great, we have to try the new bike and this is great.

“Then I will have the honeymoon, and I think it will help me a lot to relax.

“We have to say that in the last two seasons, the amount of things to do in a race weekend have increased a lot, and in terms of the mental side it’s tiring you more.

“So, races are becoming the things much easier to do in this moment.

“I’m proud of what we achieved this season, finishing second is not winning but it’s still a good result and we know why we finished second so we just have to improve.”