Barcelona, Mugello and most recently Assen – Francesco Bagnaia was the dominant man at the last three MotoGP race weekends, winning all of the last five races. He reduced his deficit in the World Championship from 44 to 10 points. At the Sachsenring, however, the Ducati rider suffered a setback for the first time since his last-lap crash in Barcelona. Jorge Martin celebrated his first MotoGP victory since the French GP in the sprint on Saturday and proved to be superior not only on the track.
“Jorge was simply a bit cleverer than me today. I chose the wrong strategy and protected the rear tire too much. Jorge recognized this and overtook me as soon as he was within reach,” Bagnaia analyzed ruthlessly in his media round. Before that, everything had actually gone according to plan for him, as he had taken the lead right at the start, while Martin fell back to third place behind Miguel Oliveira. However, the number 1 car then failed to distance itself from the chasing field, while Martin kept his foot on the accelerator. The Pramac driver initially took P2 back from Oliveira on lap two and just one lap later made the ultimately race-deciding maneuver against Bagnaia in turn nine, after an initial attack in turn 1 had failed.
Francesco Bagnaia with wrong tactics: stuck behind Oliveira
The fact that Bagnaia fell behind Oliveira just a few moments later in the final corner turned out to be a stroke of luck for Martin. The reigning MotoGP world champion remained behind Oliveira and crossed the finish line ‘only’ in third place. “I thought that 15 laps here is a damn long time. So I wanted to have enough rubber left at the end,” said Bagnaia, explaining his chosen approach. But he quickly had to admit that “that was ultimately useless because my tire pressure in the front tire shot up. Even when braking normally – without any attempt to overtake – I almost crashed every time I got anywhere near Miguel.”
The Martinator would have been threatened with the same fate as Bagnaia if he had not been able to pull off his overtaking maneuvers on laps two and three. The decisive factor would have been the tire pressure in the front tire, which was designed for leading kilometers and clear driving. Stuck in traffic, the tire pressure would have quickly shot up to dangerous heights. “I saw that he [Bagnaia, Anm.] “I think he might have saved tyres and I didn’t do that. If I had been at the front, I would have done the same. But because I was behind, I had to attack. Towards the end, I suffered a bit because I hardly had any grip at the rear. But I’m happy that I was able to get the positions back,” beamed the sprint winner.
Martin vs. Bagnaia: Round two in the German Grand Prix?
Martin was thus able to increase his lead in the battle for the World Championship to 15 points. A fact that Bagnaia accepted on Saturday. “We’ve seen a lot of crashes here. So yes, sometimes it’s better to pull back and not push too hard. It’s very easy to crash heavily here,” said the defending champion in Ducati’s service, revealing that he had no intention of overtaking Oliveira. Another failure would have been too painful – especially since there is already a chance for revenge on Sunday in the main race.
“Tomorrow will be a different story,” announces Bagnaia, who is optimistic in view of his strong race simulations from training. The fact that he has good reason for this has not gone unnoticed by World Championship rival Martin. “Pecco is the favorite,” he announces, immediately adding: “I still want to beat him. I want to end the weekend in the best possible way and take as many points from him as possible.” Last year, he managed to do this impressively with a victory in the German Grand Prix, even though Martin only narrowly retained the upper hand in a thrilling duel with Bagnaia. Will there be a repeat in 2024?