Francesco Bagnaia did all he could to disrupt Jorge Martin’s momentum during the Malaysian Grand Prix, but the championship remains a long shot for the Italian.
A 10th win of the season sees him sit 24 points behind heading into the season finale in Barcelona – a venue altered as a result of devastating floods in Valencia.
Both produced a thrilling battle in the early stages of the race before Bagnaia claimed control and Martin settled for second.
It’s been a pattern of MotoGP in 2024, to see Bagnaia claim victory, but Martin sit behind in a reserved fashion, doing everything he needs to become champion.
Luca Marini says Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia wanted to avoid ‘disaster’
In the midst of an intense title battle, there’s no doubt that fans will have wanted the riders to fight it out towards the end of the race and produce a tense finish.
However, they got all of that out of the way early on, before Martin decided to sit back and consider that the charge for a win wasn’t going to be worth it.
Speaking to Crash.Net after the race, Luca Marini pointed out the reason why the two battled so intensely early on before backing off.
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“If you stay a full lap behind another bike, everything is a disaster,” he said. “So for sure, Jorge and Pecco knew this and they wanted to be in front.
“If you stay behind another bike, it’s a disaster. The temperature of everything rises a lot, you feel the heat in your body, the front tyre, and the engine.
“So everything starts to be slower, the engine goes less [powerful], the front tyre stops less, the rear tyre temperature rises.”
Why Bagnaia needs a miracle to beat Martin
In less than two weeks, the championship will be decided at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, a venue where the two finished one-two in the same order as they did in Malaysia, earlier this year.
Bagnaia is aware that the only way he can leave with a third crown is to win and rely on others to affect the outcome of the race for Martin.
If Martin finishes 15th or lower, he would miss out on his first title in spectacular fashion, but he has finished inside the top two in each of the last six races.
If they qualify in close quarters, expect to see an elbows-out approach from Bagnaia and a more submissive approach from the Spaniard.
His rivals won’t want to get too involved with the fight, and a man who has only finished a race lower than fourth on one occasion, will have the pace to win it all – he just needs to avoid trouble.