Well before Silverstone, leaving Jerez after the Spanish Grand Prix MotoGP, Francis Bagnaia could still see the glass half empty, half full...
Certainly the double 2022-2023 world champion had to face the steamroller of the Marquez brothers, and bow to it, but on the other hand Pecco made his best start to the season in the premier class and maintained the gap with the siblings in reasonable areas.
Arriving at Le Mans, number 63 only conceded around twenty points to Alex Marquez, 19 to Marc Marquez, after regularly scoring between 20 and 32 points out of a possible 37 each weekend. Everything seemed under control for the man who has already accustomed us to spectacular comebacks, but Le Mans and his double clean sheet made the situation much more difficult for the Turin-born driver.
Si Alex Marquez did not make any sparks in Sarthe with only 9 points collected, it is different for his elder who added 32 points to his total, now relegating Francis Bagnaia at 51 points. That's a lot and a little at the same time!
A lot because in the fight against the Spanish siblings, the slightest mistake costs dearly, and if the Italian was able to show a certain speed during the free practice sessions on the Bugatti, the concretization in the race hurt, with a fall in the sprint and the same thing at the first braking of the GP, hit by Enea Bastianini.
In these conditions, maintaining confidence seems difficult, but not impossible for someone who has already gained 91 points on fabio quartararo in 2022! Catching up 51 points while there is still a potential 592 to pick up even seems entirely achievable… provided that Francesco Bagnaia finds the same feeling on the front end on his GP24.5 as on his GP24. And that's another story!
In any case, the factory Ducati rider arrives at Silverstone having finished on the podium in the last three editions, with the GP victory in 2022, a 2nd place in 2023 and a 3rd last year. Facing him, Marc Marquez aligns similar results, although more distant: a victory in 2014, P2 in 2013 and 2019.
Place your bets!
Francis Bagnaia : “The Le Mans weekend didn't give us much satisfaction. I was fast and competitive from Friday onwards, but the double crash in the race prevented me from scoring points. The goal is to have more confidence at the front so I can ride the way I want. I've always been very strong at Silverstone in recent years, I like the circuit and the atmosphere and I'm looking forward to getting back to work in the garage.”
MotoGP Silverstone Francesco Bagnaia MotoGP Silverstone Francesco Bagnaia
