Bagnaia: “I will learn to accept fifth place instead of crashing”
Francesco Bagnaia lost the 2024 title to Jorge Martin despite winning 11 of the 20 main races this year and securing a further 7 victories in sprint races.
Bagnaia’s season was marred by misfortune and a series of errors while in the lead, most notably a crash in the sprint race at Sepang, which saw Bagnaia fall behind Martin in the points table.
Bagnaia triumphed in the Malaysian Grand Prix earlier this month and followed that up with a double in Barcelona, but they were not enough to overcome Martin’s lesser first-place finish.
After the last race, Bagnaia revealed that he had identified several areas he needed to improve on during the winter break in order to come back stronger next yea
These include sometimes giving up his target position rather than fighting for the win and retiring when he is not the ‘fastest driver’ on the grid.
“We can be very happy with 2024, but we need to improve in some areas for next year,” Bagnaia said.
“I need to understand some situations better because I was eliminated three times by other riders, I had a problem with the bike, then I crashed four times because of small things. So I need to improve and I will try to do that for next year.”
“I am a driver who never gives up, but I have to learn that sometimes it is better to finish fifth or fourth than to crash.”
“I tried to do my best in all the races, but it was not enough.”
“On the other hand, Jorge knew that sometimes it is better to be passed and finish second than first. He did a great job and he definitely deserved the title.”
Bagnaia also said he may change his approach to competing with other drivers on track in order to avoid losing important points in the championship.
“The first thing I need to learn is to understand situations better.”
” I could have prevented the situations that happened with Marc Marquez in Portimao , with Brad in Jerez and with Alex Marquez in Aragon .”
“I was actually pushed off the track by other drivers in all three of them, but maybe I could have prevented all three of those situations.”
“In the case with Marc, he was faster, maybe I should have waited and not crossed the line. When I race I always want to be ahead, but maybe next year I can improve on that.”
“In the fight with Alex Marquez I was about 0.4 seconds faster and I didn’t wait. Then he touched me and caused me to crash.”
“It was the same with Brad. So I think I have to learn from my mistakes.”
