Francesco Bagnaia was celebrating, but deep inside, part of him was still seething.
The reigning MotoGP world champion had just made amends for a Saturday sprint race howler at the Catalan Grand Prix where he’d crashed from a comfortable lead at Turn 5 on the final lap by winning Sunday’s Grand Prix in signature style, one that showcased his speed and smarts in equal measure. But even as the champagne began to dry into his leathers, he still wanted answers. Because Bagnaia always wants answers.
How did I crash when I wasn’t even pushing? Was it my fault? Was it a problem with my bike? Is the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya circuit’s surface even worse than I thought?
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All conundrums he didn’t have a solution for, but questions that could wait. Because Bagnaia and his incredulity that had simmered from Saturday manifested itself on Sunday.
On lap 19 of 24 and with race-leader Jorge Martin powerless to halt his progress, Bagnaia could have probably passed his Ducati stablemate anywhere he wanted … and elected to dive down the inside at the same corner that tripped him up 24 hours earlier to make a point. The message was clear: I’ll take your crash and raise you 25 world championship points – and a middle finger while I’m at it.
Bagnaia admitted as much post-race, with a grin that made you question whether he was being entirely authentic, but one you were prepared to believe.
“I decided to do it in corner five, a bit just for what happened yesterday,” he said, commenting that he’d gestured at the corner while delving deep into his bag of Italian obscenities as he traversed the turn on the cool-down lap back to the pits.
“Yesterday, I crashed there in a very strange situation so I just decided to bust a myth. It worked well. I lost 12 points [for a sprint win] in very … I took it slower and I crashed, so this is something I will never accept.”
Bagnaia’s win was about revenge cooked slowly, showing calm and composure on a boiling-hot Barcelona Sunday that prompted risks for some, destructively instinctual riding for others – and a complete meltdown for Bagnaia’s soon-to-be erstwhile teammate, Enea Bastianini.
BAGNAIA BAKES A WINNING CAKE
The track surface at the circuit around 30 kilometres outside of Barcelona is slick at any time – worn out as one of the most used tracks in all of Europe, it’s a unique challenge for modern-day MotoGP machinery and the sheer grunt the riders have at their disposal beneath their right wrists. But on a day like Sunday, when the surface temperature at race start was nudging 50 degrees? An aquarium full of eels would offer more traction. Which saw Bagnaia hatch a plan he was determined to stick to.
From second on the grid, the Italian brushed pole-sitter Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) aside to lead the first four laps, but wasn’t that fussed when Martin pushed past on the next tour. GasGas rookie sensation Pedro Acosta came by too, and Bagnaia kept a watching brief. His time would come, he figured.
“I started well, and the pace – I tried to stay as constant as possible and not push like Martin and Pedro,” he said.
“When they overtook me, I just tried to do one lap [with] a bit more push, but I saw the front tyres were a disaster, the [tyre] consumption couldn’t be much aggressive on the rear and it was a disaster, so I decided to control it more. I was a bit scared at that moment, but it worked.”
It worked a treat. Acosta, bidding to become the youngest-ever winner of a MotoGP race one day after his 20th birthday, crashed at Turn 10 on lap 11. Martin’s advantage over Bagnaia was 1.3secs; within seven laps, it was two-tenths of a second. The game was up, and Bagnaia could plan where he wanted to make his race-winning overtake. Once he’d settled his score with Turn 5, it was over.
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Martin, who started from seventh after a crash in qualifying, had his own plan for the race but admitted afterwards he’d got sucked in to duelling with Acosta, and immediately knew the price he’d pay.
“The first corner I was super good on the outside, I overtook five or six riders, and then my target was to go on the lead,” Martin said.
“This worked perfectly but maybe with Pedro behind I pushed a little bit too much, because I wanted to stay in the lead and he was really close.
“Maybe I cooked a bit the rear tyre and the front, and when Pecco catch me I had nothing else to fight with. That was the end of my race.”
MARQUEZ BACKS HIS INSTINCTS
The last podium slot behind Bagnaia and Martin? You’d have got long odds on Marc Marquez filling it, which is no slight on the six-time MotoGP world champion’s ability to make something out of nothing.
Two weeks earlier in France, Marquez miraculously recovered from 13th on the grid to finish second in the sprint and main race. On Saturday in Spain, he was even better – 14th on the grid to second in 12 laps. But just before Sunday’s race start, he didn’t even know what tyres to use in the steaming conditions.
Still trying to get accustomed to riding a Ducati after 11 years with Honda, Marquez went to the grid on his sighting lap on Michelin’s medium-compound rear tyre, but made a last-minute switch to a soft rear tyre as the medium “just didn’t feel good”. It seemed like madness, expecting a soft tyre to last 24 laps in that heat, but only Marquez could find a method from it.
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While a win was out of the question, Marquez stealthily moved forwards until he was in a fierce fight with pole-sitter Aleix Espargaro, the Aprilia slithering around on a shot medium-rear tyre that should have been in better shape than Marquez’s. The Ducati man got by with four laps left, and hung on. For the first time since his 2019 title-winning pomp, Marquez had three Grand Prix podiums in succession.
“I’m very interested to understand and analyse the data,” he admitted afterwards after his gamble paid off.
“In Honda, I really understand when was the [right time for the] soft option or medium option [tyre] … here [Ducati], still I don’t know. But today I decide to take that risk, and that soft rear option gave me the podium. The soft rear option was on the limit, but it was possible to finish the race. We managed in a good way.”
The brace of results has Marquez third in the title chase, just two points behind Bagnaia in second, but the 31-year-old feels he’s not yet at the level of the top two.
“Of course, we are a contender. Why? Because we are third in the championship after six races already,” he said.
“But we are third, and it’s our real position because there are two guys who are a bit faster.
“I know that being on the podium here in Montmelo is super special and super important because it’s one of those circuits that I hate. But … when I say it’s a difficult circuit for me I never give up, and I try to do double work to work better.”
BASTIANINI BENDS, THEN BREAKS
One name conspicuously missing from a race where tyre management was the key? Bagnaia’s teammate Enea Bastianini, MotoGP’s foremost tyre whisperer with a CV full of late-race charges after preserving his rubber better than any of his rivals.
Bastianini’s riding style – the one that got him employed by Ducati over Martin back in 2022 when Jack Miller left for KTM – is just as potent as ever when it’s deployed correctly. But Sunday’s race was one of those days where the Italian’s rage saw any thoughts of strategy, race craft and keeping a cool head thrown in the bin.
Bastianini was incensed when given a long-lap penalty for gaining an advantage after careering through the run-off area at Turns 1-2 after being pushed wide by fellow Ducati rider Alex Marquez midway through the race, and simply ignored the order from the stewards. Failing to serve the penalty saw him hit with a second long-lap punishment, which he didn’t serve either.
With the laps ticking down and Bastianini showing no sign of paying his penance, he was hit with a ride-through penalty, where a rider has to traverse the pit lane while keeping to the pit lane speed limit before rejoining the race. He didn’t serve that either and crossed the line in ninth – and was then slapped with a 32-second penalty that dropped him to 18th and out of the points altogether.
Asked afterwards if he simply hadn’t seen his dashboard, which alerted him to the first penalty, Bastianini admitted his actions were deliberate.
“The dashboard was too clear, I didn’t agree with the dashboard,” he said.
“I overtook Alex on the straight, and when we arrived on the brakes [into Turn 1] he braked later compared to me and that pushed me out onto the kerbs.
“For me it was impossible to remain on the brakes and the only solution was to cut the chicane. It was possible to come back, but where? On the kerb of Turn 2? No, impossible.
“Then arrived the long lap penalty for me … I didn’t agree, and I decided to continue without doing the long lap.
“I know it’s not the correct choice, but we had to do something because nothing has changed. Every race there is something to explain with the stewards, and it’s not correct.”
With Ducati likely to announce the identity of Bagnaia’s teammate for 2025 at Mugello next weekend – either Bastianini, Martin or Marquez – the Italian’s unhinged actions were in keeping with a man who might already know his fate, and knows he’s about to get bumped from the sport’s benchmark team.
‘SILLY MISTAKE’ LEAVES MILLER DOWN AND OUT
If Bastianini’s post-race debrief alternated between angry and adamant, Jack Miller’s was just downright sad. When Michelin’s pre-race tyre information revealed four riders had elected to take the risk and run with the soft-compound rear tyre, you sensed the Australian would be one of them … and you almost knew what the outcome would be.
Alex and Marc Marquez, from 13th and 14th on the grid, had nothing to lose and – in Marc’s case – plenty to gain. Acosta ran with the soft because – in part – he’s a 20-year-old debutant with five races of experience to draw upon. Miller? It felt like a Hail Mary.
The end came quickly for the KTM rider, who – after jumping from ninth on the grid to sixth on lap one with a trademark lightning getaway – crashed on lap three at Turn 10, his race done in a tick over three minutes.
Sunday’s DNF was the third crash in as many Grands Prix for the out-of-contract 29-year-old, who attempted to be optimistic afterwards as his words carried the tone of someone trying to convince themselves, let alone anyone else.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” he said.
“I let the team down and I let myself down. We’re trying to be better and stop these silly mistakes, and today was just another silly mistake.
“I just trusted the front a little bit too much too early, was lacking a little bit of speed in the last sector, in particular the last two corners. I was just trying to compensate for it in Turn 10, braked pretty hard straight up and down and tried to carry the speed mid-corner as I had most of the weekend, but the track conditions this afternoon were different and without warning the front-end disappeared. There wasn’t much I could do.”
After six rounds, Miller has 27 points to sit 15th in the championship standings, and knows how dire that sounds.
“It’s a very testing time in my career,” he said.
“But with the great people we have around we’ll try to right the ship, right this wrong, and come back stronger in the races to come.”