Let's talk MotoGP: After the Marc Marquez era comes the Pecco Bagnaia era

“Pecco, you were stronger. » These were the words of Jorge Martin upon arrival of the Austrian Grand Prix in the cooldown room. This weekend, there was Bagnaia on one side, Martin on the other, and the rest of the field as spectators. Quickly and surely, Bagnaia is revealing its legend, its greatness, its infinite potential; his era is now. Let's pray that the championship remains close until the end.

 

The Bagnaia era

 

This 2024 financial year is strange in more than one way. Pecco Bagnaia is dominant, there is no doubt about it, with already seven victories in eleven rounds, added to three Sprint successes. And yet, Jorge Martin holds on; better than last year, the “Martinator” is impressively consistent, but struggles to kill races like the official driver does. The gap between the two is only five points in the championship, it's remarkable.

The worst thing is that this could well continue, despite the fairly clear difference that I see between the two protagonists. Bagnaia has already won as many victories as in 2022 and 2023, and yet, I can't imagine Martin letting up either. Seven successes are normally enough to be titled. For reference, Fabio Quartararo won five times in 2021, Joan Mir once in 2020, and Marquez nine times in 2018. Clearly, we are in the Bagnaia era, characterized by statistical non-dominance – particularly due to his attacking style, but also by a significant control over the tests.

 

 

I personally find that he has reached another milestone in 2024. This is not noticeable at first glance, because Jorge Martin has also progressed a lot. Both are further from the competitors than in the 2023 season, there is them and the others.

 

Is it thanks to the motorbike?

 

I hear everywhere that the Ducati Desmosedici GP24 is the ultimate weapon, far above the other machines. I half agree with this statement. The superiority of the GP24 is undeniable, of course, also because the Aprilia RS-GP and the KTM RC16 can't do anything about it compared to last year. I am not being in bad faith and voluntarily remove Franco Morbidelli from the equation, because I know that it does not reflect the true level of his material. But Enea Bastianini, on the other hand, is an interesting point of comparison.

 

 

In my opinion, Marc Marquez is better than him since the start of this season, despite the lack of victory. If “Bestia” is ahead overall, Marquez’s position is weighted by numerous errors. The Spaniard is one of the best in history, agreed, but we must not forget that Bastianini is also a monster, 2 Moto2020 world champion, and one of the most formidable in 2022 when he was with Gresini. The study of the Fabio Di Giannantonio case is also interesting, because we saw him progress on the GP23 – before he was injured in Austria, until he became good enough to deserve a GP25 next year.

Therefore, given the gap between Bastianini and the Martin/Bagnaia duo (reflected thanks to the Marc Marquez benchmark), I sincerely think that the first two in the championship are in a state of grace. All you have to do is see the overtaking, the starts, the qualifying sessions – where the two thieves largely outperform all their competitors, including specialists like Marc Marquez, even with one wheel.

Le MotoGP, it's a story of couples. The pilot is always with his machine, one cannot exist without the other. To lower Bagnaia and Martin to their GP24 is to deny motorcycling history which has only crowned the best engineers since 1949. Today, by closely analyzing the races, it is impossible to conceal their superiority on the handlebars, their mastery which has rarely been better expressed than on the hills of the Red Bull Ring during this Austrian Grand Prix, crushed by these immutable forces.

The more the season progresses, the more I struggle to distinguish Martin and Bagnaia as they have the same approach, the same racing philosophy and the same admirable principles.

 

 

A Sprint that could have been different?

 

Now that this digression is over, let's quickly return to the weekend and the action that was proposed to us. Overall, it was a pretty poor show., but it’s the period that requires that – we’ll talk about it again tomorrow. The Sprint could have been tighter if Martin had not made this mistake, which led to a justified penalty.

Quickly, let's come back to this point of regulation. If a driver takes a break, he must not only let his opponent pass, but also lose a full second, voluntarily. Obviously, Martin didn't do it. The penalty is therefore, as I said above, justified. Now, is it deserved? I don't think so, but a regulation should not be subject to emotions, merit is a resolutely abstract parameter. Not long ago, I said that I wanted to see more mathematics in race management decisions. So I can't complain when the panel applies the rules to the letter, even if it - in fact - taints the show. It wouldn't be fair to criticize them for that..

Ultimately, it was also Jorge Martin's conclusion, so we see ourselves there. He advocated a change in the rules, and I quite agree. Impossible, in the heat of a battle, to lose precisely one second. In loopholes and chicanes, it would be necessary to put in place markers behind which the passage of pilots would ensure that they lose enough time not to be sanctioned. As I recall, this is the case in Formula 1.

What did you think of this Grand Prix weekend? Tell me in the comments!

 

 

Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport