In contrast to world championship rival Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia is currently approaching MotoGP weekends completely differently – does he need to rethink his strategy?
“I don’t know if it would necessarily be good to continue like this.” That’s what current MotoGP championship leader Francesco Bagnaia says, alluding to his strategy on race weekends. “My strategy during the sessions simply differs quite a lot from the strategies of the other riders,” he says and explains: “This helps me to be very well prepared for the race every time.”
Bagnaia also knows, however: “The disadvantage is that I’m not prepared to ride for first place when it counts [in qualifying].” Because the Ducati factory rider devotes a lot of time to race set-up in Friday and Saturday morning practice, he is generally not used to the extra grip of the soft tires late on Saturday morning when qualifying starts.
As a result, Bagnaia’s weekend strategy makes it more difficult for him to be fast right from the start, as his fiercest rival for the 2023 World Championship title – Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin – has shown time and time again.
The last time Bagnaia took pole was at the beginning of September on the Barcelona weekend. In the six qualifying sessions since then, Martin alone has taken pole four times. The other two best qualifying times in this period went to VR46 Ducati riders Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini.
In terms of race results, Martin has won three Grands Prix in the past six race weekends and, believe it or not, all (five) sprints. On the Australian weekend on Phillip Island, the sprint was canceled. Bagnaia has won one Grand Prix in this period – in Indonesia, after Martin crashed there while clearly in the lead.
“Maybe we have to think about something else to be better prepared for the time attacks,” muses Bagnaia. In the 2023 MotoGP overall standings, the defending champion still has a 13-point lead over Martin with three race weekends to go.
