MotoGP Malaysia Sepang D3, Debriefing Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati/1): "You will never know!", etc. (full)

The Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang offered us the pinnacle of talent for three laps MotoGP, with the confrontation on the razor's edge between Francis Bagnaia et George Martin.

With little left to lose with a 29-point deficit before the Grand Prix, the Italian did not give up in the face of the Spaniard's relentless attacks, and in the end he reduced his deficit to 24 points, taking his tenth victory of the season. It will probably not be enough to bring him a third world title, but what a beautiful and intense battle it was, between these two great champions at the top of their game!

As usual, we report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.

Find the first part here

At all the circuits so far, we have seen a big difference in the total time of the races with the new Michelin tyres, compared to last year. This is the only circuit where, if we add the two minutes you spent in the last laps, the total time is higher than that of Enea last year. Why?
“The temperature, the temperature! In the test we had problems with the central part of the tire because with the softest compound we already had blister after 10 laps. So they changed the tire a little bit, they put another compound in the center of the tire, and these two things, the temperature, the conditions, and also this tire, made the pace not as fast.
Maybe also because we did 4 laps in a fierce fight, so maybe the first four laps were much faster. The first two laps were where the rear tyre was giving the maximum and we lost it fighting, so they had their chance.

Five laps before the end of the race, you had a 7/10 drop in pace in one lap. I thought you might invite Jorge to follow you more closely to make a small mistake. Is that correct or is it just tyre degradation?
“You’ll never know! (Laughs) I changed the power delivery mapping, but it was too conservative and I went back, which allowed me to be a little bit faster. But sometimes doing that during the race slows you down a little bit.”

You said before that you passed the same place where you fell yesterday online. Did you do it on purpose and why and when?
“I did it because I said it was the right line when I needed to push. I just got there being more on the bike, and not in my normal position, and I hit the bump and nothing happened because I was more on the bike and pushing more on the tires. I have to say that today, the lap he (Jorge Martin) did in front of me, we got to Turn 9 and I had a lock-up there too, because… I don’t know why. I don’t know why, but sometimes weird things happen with our bike, like also in Turn 14. Sometimes you do the same line as the previous lap and then you lose the front and it’s hard to predict. So it’s something we’re going to work on for the future, but we have to understand it.”

You showed today that you always come back. I asked you, in Australia maybe, but today maybe mentally it was the most difficult race for you, because of the situation, the crash yesterday, the possibility of the title for today…
“It may sound strange, but no, honestly. When I start a long race on Sunday, I feel like I can do much better, because I feel much better with the bike from the first lap. I can be more aggressive, I can brake harder, I can stop the bike better, I can follow the guys in front of me more closely. My problems are in the sprint race: we don’t know why and I don’t know why, but I’m not able to follow someone so closely, I need to slow down a bit and be 3-4 tenths behind because I can’t brake, I can’t get in, and I lose a lot of time in the first part of the race. We still don’t know why, but we have to focus and understand why. But for the mental aspect, I wasn’t afraid today. I was fully confident and I knew I was able to fight for the win.
And nothing more. In Thailand we understood something that was better for yesterday, but something was still missing because I crashed, and I couldn't attack Jorge like I did today."

Will the fact that you are doing the last race in Montmelo and not in Valencia change anything for you in terms of preparation? Do you feel better or worse on this circuit?
“We adapt to everything every time. So for me, no. In terms of performance, I perform better in Barcelona normally, but it’s also a trickier circuit where the mistakes are very close, so you have to be more precise. But I don’t have a preference.”

Nineteen races have taken place, one more to go, so how would you sum up your season?
"I give you the title of the article on the web and I say 'shity Saturdays, loved Sundays' (laughs)."

And how would you characterize your opponent in three words?
“Hmm… Difficult. Strong, really strong. Fast, in terms of adaptation and for the attack on the clock, I don’t know how to say the right word but he comes on track and does like yesterday 56,5 in the first lap, like that, and it’s something incredible. And determined, because after what happened in 2021, he never, never gave up, and he always wanted to get to where he is now, so the determination he has since last year when he made some mistakes, is huge.”