Bagnaia: “After Malaysia I knew my chances of winning the title were slim”

Francesco Bagnaia says he is aware that winning the 2024 MotoGP title will be a challenge after crashing in the Malaysian Grand Prix sprint race.
Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia crashed his GP24 at Turn 9 in Sepang, while in second place behind championship rival Jorge Martin, losing important points at a critical stage of the championship.

Bagnaia made up for that mistake by winning the main race in Malaysia and completing a double in the Barcelona final, but it was not enough to close the 29-point gap to Martin.

Although he has often said in interviews that he has a realistic chance of winning the 2024 title, Bagnaia said after Barcelona that his hopes of winning the title are actually very slim. 

“After my sprint race in Malaysia I knew it would be difficult to win the title.”

“It was going to be very difficult to overcome 29 points but I tried to do my best and win all the remaining races. That was the maximum I could do but Jorge did a better job.”

“He was better in terms of consistency. I think he finished second 17 or 18 times during the season, which is incredible, and we were a bit unlucky.”

” Even though we surpassed our points tally from last season, I made so many mistakes that it was hard to imagine winning the title like this.”

“In terms of mistakes, I think the Misano one was one of the worst because I could have easily finished third.

“But the hardest thing to accept was the mistake in Malaysia because I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I entered the corner slower and maybe that’s what caused the accident.”

“But I think overall we did a very good job, we almost dominated the races in terms of victories, but it was not enough. Next year, I will have to learn from this season.”