The current "championship of mistakes" between MotoGP protagonists Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin has one primary culprit, according to Bagnaia - although Martin isn't convinced.
Bagnaia reduced Martin's points lead to 12 in the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint, capitalising on an opening-lap Martin crash. This came less than a week after Bagnaia himself fell out of third place at Misano - and fits into the wider pattern of the season.
A costly mistake! 😱@88jorgemartin crashed out of the lead on the opening lap! ❌ He rejoined the #TissotSprint and finished 10th but didn't score any point! 😓#IndonesianGP 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/uxmedyN8HN
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 28, 2024
Ducati's two-time champion Bagnaia acknowledged this Saturday's outcome was an important points swing, yet added: "But... until tomorrow afternoon I don't want to say nothing.
"It looks like this season is a championship of mistakes. And I have my idea that it arrives from the performance of the tyres."
Bagnaia is convinced that both he and Martin are being tripped up by the mismatch between the series' tyre supplier Michelin's front tyre and rear tyre.
The rear has been reinforced for this year, enabling lap records to fall weekend after weekend, but the front remains unchanged despite long being a priority to improve upon. A prototype new front tyre debuted to relative acclaim from riders in testing at Misano earlier this month, but won't be ready for introduction until 2026.
"The rear tyres have done an enormous step in front - but we are braking so hard because the rear is also helping a lot in the braking, but the front has more issues," said Bagnaia. "Because we are entering much faster in all the corners.
"The performance that Michelin improved this season is incredible, all the circuits we've improved a lot the pace. Btu when you are at this limit it's easy, also, to have a crash."
Martin laughed in agreement when told of Bagnaia's 'championship of mistakes' line - but didn't necessarily accept the explanation offered.
"I don't feel I was on the limit," he said of his crash on Saturday. "I mean, if this is the theory, qualifying would be much worse.
"So... I felt qualifying was okay. And also I felt everything went good in the race. I crashed and [then] I finished 10th, overtaking 10 riders or more. So... for sure I had to change the set-up to adapt to the tyres, but now the balance seems quite okay."
Bagnaia also acknowledged he believed there was a psychological factor at play.
"In that moment, like today, I didn't have nothing to lose. I had to win. And for some reason, when you are behind and you have to win it's easier to win. When you are in front, then you start to think too much, and it's not helpful.
"But we also have to consider that the guys behind [Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez] are pushing a lot. We are four fighting for the championship, and with 11 races [GPs and sprints] to go."
"Yeah, for sure when you are in front it's not easy," agreed Martin - but he didn't want to be pressed on this further.
Crash a mystery to Martin
The championship leader was, ultimately, very reluctant to draw any major conclusions from the crash because he is yet to fully understand it.
The slow Turn 16 has been a treacherous point of the track for many a rider this weekend, including Martin himself - as he had fallen there in pre-qualifying practice.
💥 @88jorgemartin goes down at T16
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 28, 2024
But he gets up and goes back to the box 🔙#IndonesianGP 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/jXSna1epRP
Bagnaia, who had a front row seat to Martin's sprint crash, felt it was quite easy to explain - and suggested his whole strategy for the race was built around avoiding the same outcome.
"When I saw Jorge entering in that corner - he was entering much-much-much faster, and with a lot of lean angle. But today the condition was very hot, 63 degrees on the asphalt. I think for me is the worst ever we've ever tried, the most strange, most difficult condition we ever tried during the weekend, during the season. Wasn't easy to perform there.
"And when I saw the crash, I started to be faster in only [the first] three sectors, but there [at Turn 16] being very slow.
"So I was controlling a bit. For tomorrow will not work. But I'm happy for today."
Martin, however, felt "everything was normal" in how he approached the corner, even having already glanced at the data.
He wondered whether he'd failed to warm the tyre sufficiently - although it worked fine after he remounted the bike.
"I think on that part of the track is something strange. Already [MotoGP pitlane reporter] Simon [Crafar] told me, two days ago. I've been really taking a look into that corner, trying to be careful. I even crashed this morning.
"So I am really taking care of that point. And I still crashed. So for sure the thing is to do it a bit slowly and keep a bit of margin, and then push in the rest of the track."
Martin even suggested he may go out on track to study the crash marks on the asphalt.
"I just feel there's some small part, I don't know where, on that particular corner that is slippery. Because the rest of the track the grip is amazing. It's just that point.
"I will try to understand and take a look into the marks of my crash and [next time] go elsewhere.
"Tomorrow in the morning in the warm-up I will really look into it. Because afterwards also riding, I was going through that corner and everything went well. It was just that particular lap."
