Francesco Bagnaia battled for victory for a long time in the Phillip Island thriller, but is also the new championship leader with P3 and is now the clear World Championship favourite
Who would have thought at the halfway point of the 2022 MotoGP season that Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia would travel to the penultimate race of the season as championship leader? Probably only the most optimistic. But that is exactly how the situation now looks after the thrilling Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
Bagnaia heads into next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang as the leader of the 2022 MotoGP standings. It is the first time ever in his premier class career that “Pecco” has led the World Championship.
As a reminder, after the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring in June, Bagnaia was 91 points behind Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo. That was exactly at the halfway point of the season, when there were still ten races to go.
Now, with just two races to go, Bagnaia has turned the tide completely. He travels to Malaysia with a 14-point lead over Quartararo, where he will have his first match point to win the World Championship title next Sunday.
Of the eight races since the German Grand Prix, Bagnaia has won four and finished second or third in three others. At the same time, Quartararo has not won since his Sachsenring triumph. Worse still, in three of the past four races the Yamaha rider failed to score any World Championship points at all – including Sunday’s crash at Phillip Island.
Bagnaia at Phillip Island: “Wanted to win, but … “
For new World Championship leader Bagnaia, the race at Phillip Island did not start according to plan at first. “At the start I had problems activating the device on the front wheel,” he said. Starting from third on the grid, the Ducati rider briefly found himself only sixth after setting off without the launch assist.
LIGHTS OUT IN PHILLIP ISLAND! @88jorgemartin leads as @PeccoBagnaia is slow off the line! AustralianGP pic.twitter.com/FtupiSbWyj
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) October 16, 2022
“But I didn’t let that distract me, I was determined to get the maximum out of today,” said Bagnaia, who was already back in third after the first lap. And it was on that third place that he finished after 27 thrilling laps, having led the race for a while.
No more grip on the front wheel at the end
“I am very happy with the result,” said Bagnaia, “because it was not an easy race. I tried to manage the tyres as well as possible. But in the last six laps the grip on the front wheel dropped extremely. The tyre was completely done. “
“I didn’t expect that. Maybe I just used the tyre too much, I don’t know,” puzzled the Ducati rider, who had opted for the medium (front tyre) and hard (rear tyre) combination on Sunday. It was precisely this combination of tyres that Suzuki rider Alex Rins rode to victory from tenth on the grid.
Bagnaia, however, had to struggle with the slack in the final phase “especially in the left-hand corners”, as he says. There are plenty of these types of corners on Phillip Island, in fact all but three. Nevertheless, the Ducati rider was in the lead at the beginning of the last lap. But then he was overtaken by Rins in turn 2 and on this occasion also by Marc Marquez.
Knowledge of Quartararo’s retirement made Bagnaia rethink
When he crossed the finish line in third, Bagnaia was just 0.224 seconds off winner Rins. “My goal was actually to win today. But then I saw on my pit board that Fabio was out of the race,” the new World Championship leader recalled the scene that was decisive for him, namely the crash of Fabio Quartararo, who had been leading the World Championship standings since the fifth race of the season (Grand Prix of Portugal in April).
UNBELIEVABLE! QUARTARARO IS OUT OF THE RACE! @FabioQ20‘s title hopes ARE FALLING APART! AustralianGP pic.twitter.com/A2tjEhLOEV
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) October 16, 2022
“When I saw Fabio was out, my race changed completely,” admits Bagnaia. Knowing that Quartararo would not score any points again, the Ducati rider did not risk everything in the second half of the race. He would still have liked to win: “When I was overtaken by those two on the last lap, I thought to myself that if I have the chance to counterattack, then I will attack.”
“But I didn’t want to risk too much and I didn’t want to crash under any circumstances,” Bagnaia continued, making it clear: “The most important thing was to get to the finish and take the points. I have made enough mistakes this year. I think I’ve learned my lesson. “
Matchball in Sepang: “When I start thinking about pressure … “
The fact is that Bagnaia will have his first match ball to win the World Championship title next Sunday in Sepang. “That will be a very important race, of course,” he knows about his big chance. It was in Sepang that he was crowned Moto2 World Champion in 2018. At that time, too, it was the penultimate race of the season. Doesn’t that bring back memories? Not yet.
“I just try to stay calm and just want to approach the next race as such, which is the next race. I don’t really want to think about the World Championship, I just want to be clever,” Bagnaia affirms.
Because one thing “Pecco” has learned in his crash-ridden first half of the 2022 season: “If I start thinking about the pressure, then I only put myself under pressure. I’m just trying to stay calm now and look at the weekend like we’ve been doing regularly since the summer break. “
