MotoGP built up the title-deciding Valencia Grand Prix as ‘all or nothing’ for championship contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
Martin evidently took it to heart. In vying for it all, he got nothing.
The Spaniard’s valiant charge into title contention was founded on superlative speed and domination of the new sprint format. On Saturday in Valencia he wielded those qualities with devastating effect, slashing his title gap to 14 points and putting a satellite championship well within the realm of possibility.
Watch every practice, qualifying and race of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship live and ad-break free during racing on Kayo. Join now and start streaming instantly >
But on Sunday, the domain of the long-game riders, he was undone by his own haste to use his speed as a form of authority.
A mistake chasing Bagnaia dropped him into the pack, and a more costly error put him into the gravel and out of the race, ending his title pursuit in a hail of stones and a flood of frustrated tears.
He’d come so close, but in the end he got nothing.
It was a dramatic conclusion to a tumultuous, unpredictable season. A the end of the first season in 75 years that no rider has been able to win back-to-back races, Bagnaia became the first Ducati rider to win back-to-back championships.
BAGNAIA RISES TO THE CHALLENGE TO ESTABLISH LEGACY
On Saturday night it seemed as though Bagnaia and Ducati’s worst fears were coming true.
The route to Martin overhauling his 21-point deficit was narrow but achievable with a good sprint race. As hypothesised here last week, the Pramac rider applied maximum pressure through the average sprint result of the last five rounds, with him in the lead and Bagnaia in fifth.
Victory with Bagnaia sixth or lower in the grand prix would be enough to clinch the crown, but it wasn’t so much about the points as it was the pressure they applied. Bagnaia still had his destiny in his own hands, but one slip would be all it would take to undo his season of good work — remembering that in last year’s title decider he trailed home ninth in a nervy and damage-limited performance.
But Bagnaia isn’t the same rider he was last season. Though he’s been far from error free, he’s been classified off the podium just once all season in the races he’s finished.
Martin might have been faster in the second half of the campaign, but Bagnaia has always been the smarter race manager.
We got a great glimpse of his cerebral approach early in the race, even as Martin’s tumble meant his result ultimately wouldn’t matter.
Having sensed his front tyre pressures decreasing unexpectedly, he let pursuing KTM riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller through into first and second to troubleshoot his problems. Sure enough, in their dirty air, his tyre pressures rose again, and he was able to manage his pace to maintain a hold on the podium.
He ultimately didn’t need to pass them back, with Binder and then Miller falling foul of cooling rubber.
His then outright speed was on display in the closing stages of the grand prix, when he fended off the hard-charging Fabio di Giannantonio and Johann Zarco for victory, ensuring he claimed his championship in style from the top step.
Winning a championship is difficult, but defending the crown with the pressure of being the rider to beat is in some senses even harder. That’s particularly true given the contrasting ways he won his two championships — against the fading Fabio Quartararo last year compared to the fast-charging, interference-running Martin this season.
He’s now one of just 17 riders to win multiples, establishing himself as one of the sport’s greats in a way his first title wouldn’t automatically allow.
And just as he was stronger after his first, he’s certainly stronger still after his second.
Verstappen wins 19th race in record year | 01:52
ORIGINAL POINTS GAP, NOT CRASHES, COST MARTIN
Martin could’ve pouted about his suspicions over the Michelin tyre problems he said left him 10th at the end of the Qatar Grand Prix, blowing out his title deficit and putting him on the back foot for the decider, but to his credit he arrived in Valencia prepared to redouble his efforts.
He left nothing on the table this weekend. It was a commendable effort to a stellar campaign that come so close to making him the first satellite champion of the MotoGP era.
There was more than just the championship on the line too, with Autosport having revealed on the Sunday of the race that his contract contained a clause that would have automatically elevated him to the factory team had he beaten Bagnaia to the crown — something for which Martin had been deeply unhappy to have been passed over in favour of Enea Bastianini late last year.
The intent was there from Friday with some superb gamesmanship in timed practice.
Martin had gone early with his lap to progress directly to Q2. Bagnaia, as is typical of his methodical approach to practice, left his lap late.
The Spaniard deliberately tailed him in the final frenetic minutes to put him off his game. Bagnaia has long insisted that it doesn’t bother him, but his attempts to shake his title rival from his tail by running off the track suggested otherwise.
The tactic was brutal but effective. Bagnaia wasn’t quick enough on his first lap, and yellow flags on his last attempt meant he was locked into Q1.
Set-up changes on Saturday were enough to see Bagnaia cruise through Q1 and outqualify Martin in Q2.
Martin nailed the brief in the sprint, winning with Bagnaia in fifth to give himself a chance, and he was breathing down Bagnaia’s neck in a battle for the lead early in the grand prix.
A small but costly error in the factory Ducati’s slipstream almost led to total disaster, coming centimetres from wiping both out of the race.
Martin dropped down the order, and in his now frustrated haste to make up ground, he crashed with Marc Márquez, putting his compatriot into an airborne crash and putting himself out of the race in the gravel.
Martin himself said there was nothing more too his clumsy Sunday execution than him having given himself too much work to do with needless errors in earlier races. He had nothing to lose. It was all or nothing.
What matters now is how he bounces back in 2024. No-one doubts he has the speed to win a championship. He must now prove he has the Sunday temperament to go all the way.
‘The stewards are a joke man!’ | 02:36
MOTOGP TYRE TROUBLE RUMBLES ON
Fabio di Giannantonio momentarily looked likely to be the only rider of the season to win back-to-back races, passing Zarco late and charging towards Bagnaia in the lead. He couldn’t find an opportunity to make a clean move on the champion, however, and was happy to take second, his third podium in five grands prix.
Or so he thought.
In what is fast becoming a brewing MotoGP crisis, he was slapped with a three-second penalty hours after the end of the race for being found to have run tyres under the minimum pressures.
It dropped him to fourth, behind Zarco and Binder.
The rules around minimum pressures have been in effect for the last 12 rounds in deference to supplier Michelin, which has seen forces applied to its rubber increase exponentially in the aerodynamic era of MotoGP. Some teams had been running tyres with dangerously low pressures, increasing grip at the expense of structural damage.
But tyre pressures fluctuate wildly in the sprint and the race depending on variables as extraneous as whether a rider is in traffic and the prevailing climatic conditions. Pressures were dropping in Valencia because the race started later than usual, at 3pm, by which time the approaching dusk was cooling the track.
Both Brad Binder and Jack Miller were victims of the suddenly cold tyres, the former losing the lead and the latter crashing out.
Overinflating tyres just to ensure they’re always above the minimum is dangerous in its own way, limiting the contact patch and therefore grip through the race.
So far 24 penalties have been dished out to 20 riders in just the second half of the season.
It’s one thing that time penalties are being handed out so late after the end of the race.
Quite another is that from next year there will be no sliding scale of increasingly harsh punishments. Every offence will be met with disqualification.
The prospect of having riders regularly disqualified for a tyre pressure rule risks making a mockery of the series in 2024.
“We push a lot Carlos Ezpeleta [Dorna sporting director], because we said a lot to Carlos that it’s not about Michelin, it’s about the championship,” Aleix Espargaró said, per Crash.
“This rule is going to ruin the championship — and the rules are made by the championship, not by the brands.
“So, we asked Carlos to protect us because, with this rule next year, the standings are going to be based on the penalties — 100 per cent.”
It remains to be seen whether MotoGP will heed the call of the riders — and whether Michelin will change tack, particularly in light of mounting criticism of its premier-class product.
Kostecki cruises with Title locked up | 01:14
WHAT NEXT?
The 2023 season may have only just concluded, but 2024 starts this week with the customary post-season test — which will be broadcast live on Kayo and Fox Sports.
Not only do teams bring their first iterations of their new bikes, but riders changing teams usually get their first chance to sample their 2024 machines.
And this week there’s only one story to follow: Marc Márquez’s first laps on a Ducati.
Márquez’s long and excruciating exit from Honda delivered only two but bright spots, but both were memorable: a podium on Honda’s home turf in Japan and then a final emotional rostrum appearance in Valencia, albeit after the sprint.
The Spaniard has talked at length about the difficulty deciding to leave the team that has brought him all his record-breaking success in the premier class, but in the end the competitor in him — the need to win — won out.
Next year he will replace Fabio di Giannantonio at Gresini on a year-old Ducati.
And given Gresini’s form in the last two years and Ducati’s domination of the category, it surely puts Márquez among the favourites to win next year’s crown.
The first step towards what would be a remarkable achievement is this Tuesday.
Di Giannantonio is also expected to have done enough to save his career after looking set to exit the sport following Márquez’s announcement. VR46, despite having suggested a preference for youth, is reportedly close to finalising a deal to bring the MotoGP winner in house, with team owner Valentino Rossi overseeing negotiations.
It won’t be critical for the deal to be done before testing given both teams field Ducati bikes, but it would be a useful opportunity to start the transition process — and to get Digia onto the updated bike.
Finally, Pedro Acosta will gut his first laps as a KTM Gas Gas rider in the premier class. Acosta dominated this year’s Moto2 championship and is widely regarded as MotoGP’s next big thing.
The post-season test is live on Kayo Sports and Fox Sports 506.
The morning session runs from 7:50pm (AEDT) until 11:00pm on Tuesday.
The afternoon session runs from midnight until 3:20am.
