There's still over a quarter of the MotoGP season left - but as it stands, the 2024 title campaign is leaving a weird taste.
This is not because anything untoward is taking place, nor is it a direct byproduct of Ducati's all-conquering dominance. It seems self-evident that the 2024 title is only winnable on a 2024-spec Ducati, yes, but in that regard MotoGP has again avoided the worst-case scenario of having the manufacturer's 'designated champion' romp to the title unopposed.
What it hasn't avoided is another unfortunate scenario, that of the two title protagonists taking turns tripping over their own shoelaces - a bigger-stage recreation of Moto2's 'I don't feel like winning, actually' title race from two years ago.
Jorge Martin's crash from the lead on the opening lap of the Mandalika sprint, gift-wrapping 12 points for Bagnaia, came six days on from Bagnaia hitting the deck from third place and forfeiting 16 points at Misano.
HIGH DRAMA! 😱@88jorgemartin crashes out of the lead and rejoins! 💥🔄#IndonesianGP 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/donb3pZ8Xq
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 28, 2024
Bagnaia now has seven DNFs across grands prix and sprints. Martin has just recoded his fourth.
And while, say, Bagnaia's Aragon exit in a collision with Alex Marquez can hardly be used the evidence here, so much of these have been 'unforced' errors, points left on the table.
This is, of course, a direct consequence of the expanded calendar and the sprint format. Bagnaia and Martin have now had 31 opportunities each to crash out of a race, and while it feels like they're taking them unusually often, the numbers don't necessarily support that.
But it's the manner in which it keeps happening - almost without rhyme or reason, often without explanation and with seemingly no measures taken to prevent it from either side even though at this point it appears clear that whoever crashes less will be champion - that makes the title fight seem worse than it is.
This is closer than, say, Andrea Dovizioso versus Marc Marquez in 2017. It should be more fun.
Both Bagnaia and Martin come to every round with a chance to win, with not just a chance but the outright stated aim to demolish the lap record. But there wasn't that feeling in Dovizioso v. Marquez, or Jorge Lorenzo versus Valentino Rossi in that tainted but still legendary 2015 title battle, or Marquez versus Lorenzo versus Dani Pedrosa in 2013, that the title contenders were leaving unacceptable amounts of points on the table.
There is a perception outside of MotoGP right now, and maybe inside, too, that the era of the 'alien' has gone and with it have gone riders worth revering. That the bike decides too much, that the Ducati is too good, and that the real standouts on the grid - Marquez, Fabio Quartararo, and now Pedro Acosta, too - are left to subside on scraps while the 'ordinary' fight for titles that should rightfully be theirs.
It's not true. Martin and Bagnaia are not ordinary.
If anyone could do what they could do on the Ducati GP24, Franco Morbidelli would've won double-digit races this season already.
But it does not help build the mythos of the new guard when the two title protagonists are 'after you-ing' each other into the points lead. And there's only so many times you can point out how difficult the category is, how little room for error there is, how high the speeds are, how much of an imbalance there is between the decent-but-outdated Michelin front and the state-of-the-art Michelin rear, before people cut to the chase and go 'yeah, but are these guys actually any good?'.
It will not matter to the champion in Valencia - both Bagnaia and Martin would happily sign up to finish 10th in every remaining race if they knew it would guarantee them the crown.
But it will matter as to how the season is remembered, and 'won by the guy who crashed the least' simply does not make for a MotoGP classic.
