Pecco Bagnaia says he will learn to accept that it is better not to win than to exceed the limits and crash, as he attempts to regain the MotoGP title in 2025. Despite winning 11 of this year’s 20 long races, and collected seven more victories in the sprints, the official driver of Ducati lost this year’s championship to the most consistent man Jorge Martin.
The Italian’s campaign was marked by bad luck and above all his mistakes, with several crashes while in the lead – including the Sepang sprint – which left him behind the Spaniard in the general classification for almost all year round. Bagnaia took victory on Sunday in Malaysia and completed the double last weekend in Barcelona, but it was not enough to neutralize his title rival’s advantage, which he had cultivated with fewer victories.
After the last race, the two-time transalpine champion revealed that he had identified many areas in which he needed to improve during the winter break to come back stronger in 2025. This includes accepting being left behind as he is not the fastest driver. overdoing it by seeking victory and falling.
“We can be very satisfied and very happy [con 2024]but for next year we have to improve in some areas,” he said. “Maybe I need to understand some situations better, because they eliminated me [provocado el cero por incidentes] Three times with other riders I had a problem with the bike, then I crashed four times because of very small things. So I have to improve and I will try to do that next year. I’m a driver who never gives up, but sometimes it’s better to think and finish fifth or fourth than to crash, and that’s something I will learn.”
“I only tried to do my best in the last three races and that wasn’t enough, because Jorge learned this season that sometimes it’s better to be overtaken and finish second than to win. He did a fantastic job , he deserves this title,” he continued.
Bagnaia started the year in shock, when he found himself on the ground after a collision with Marc Marquez in the Portimao long race. Another 0 followed him at the Jerez sprint, when he was hit by Brad Binder And Marco Bezzecchiand I also had problems with Alex Marquez at MotorLand.
Regardless of who was to blame for the incidents, Bagnaia said he could always change his approach when battling with other drivers on the track, so as not to lose important championship points.
“The first thing I will have to learn is to understand situations better,” he explained. “It is true that three of these eight zeros come from strange situations, that of Portimao with Marc, that of Jerez with Brad and that of Alex Márquez in Aragon. In all three, it is true that other drivers have eliminated, but these three situations are situations that perhaps I could have avoided.”
“In Marc’s race he was faster, so maybe I should wait and not go over the limit. I say this now, but when I’m racing I just want to be as far away as possible. But maybe -maybe next year that will improve During the incident with Alex Márquez he was clearly faster, by four tenths, and no I waited to pass because he had opened up. so I said: ‘okay, It’s my time’, and then he touched me and made me fall, I think I have to learn from my mistakes,” he concluded.
