Even MotoGP title combatants Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin have admitted the 2024 world championship race has been defined by mistakes.
Here's our pick of the most consequential blunders.
Bagnaia's Portimao double
Points before: Martin 31 Bagnaia 28
Points after: Martin 60 Bagnaia 37
A double disaster for the reigning champion, with both his sprint and the main race shipping valuable points.
On Saturday, it was a relatively minor mistake while in the lead, one that he was able at least to recover from without a crash - but it still demoted him from first to fourth and took away six points that would've made the end of his season much easier.
Then Sunday was an absolute disaster. Locked in battle with Marc Marquez for fifth as Martin rode away, it was already a bad day for Bagnaia when the two had a pretty normal type of modern MotoGP collision where they exited a corner on different lines and collided. Not really anyone’s fault, but nonetheless 11 more points conceded. - Simon Patterson
Martin resumes old habits at Jerez
Points before: Martin 92 Bagnaia 50
Points after: Martin 92 Bagnaia 75
A year ago, this sort of crash was the sort of stuff that we expected from Martin - and really, was the sort of thing that decided the 2023 title, with him making mistakes and throwing away victories while he was getting pressured by the guy (most often Bagnaia) behind him.
Tucking the front at Turn 6 while Bagnaia was pushing him hard, the best thing about the fall for Martin was that he learned from it and got it out of his system.
Nonetheless, though, it cost him at least 20 points. But it was one of his very rare mistakes of the season, something that still stands in contrast to Bagnaia’s year. - SP
Bagnaia's incredible Barcelona sprint crash
Points before: Martin 129 Bagnaia 91
Points after: Martin 135 Bagnaia 91
Bagnaia already trailed by 38 points heading into the Barcelona weekend in May, then threw away an almost inevitable sprint win in a race where Martin managed only fourth.
Though the reigning world champion wasn’t the first to crash out of the lead of that race - Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernandez and KTM's Brad Binder both appeared in a prime position to win before suffering the same fate - Bagnaia’s crash came at Turn 5 on the very last lap.
It marked his fourth DNF of the season, having already crashed out of the sprints at Jerez and Le Mans and the main race at Portimao. Unfortunately for Bagnaia, it was far from the last, and crashing out of sprints while Martin dominated them was one of his campaign’s key weaknesses. - Megan White
Martin blows it at the Sachsenring
Points before: Martin 212 Bagnaia 197
Points after: Bagnaia 222 Martin 212
Martin seemed to espouse a relatively que sera, sera philosophy coming out of the Sachsenring crash - which served him well, as he avoided compounding an awful points loss with a psychological blow.
Because that was certainly a plausible outcome. Martin was on course to take a crucial seven points out of Bagnaia, but buckled under a last burst of pressure from his rival while trying to hang on to those seven points - losing a lot more in the process.
Given it was already very clearly a two-horse race at that point, it could've been a crippling mistake. But Martin shrugged it off coming into the summer break - and came out of it in good shape. - Val Khorounzhiy
Alex Marquez wipes out Bagnaia at Aragon
Points before: Martin 279 Bagnaia 276
Points after: Martin 299 Bagnaia 276
Behind Marc Marquez's dominant return to the top step of the podium, Aragon was a big shift towards Martin in title terms.
Bagnaia had already lost the championship lead with a muted ninth in the sprint as Martin followed Marquez home, and then things got dramatically worse on Sunday.
Trying to get back into the podium places after losing ground off the line, Bagnaia's violent tangle with Alex Marquez over third was more a blunder on the Gresini rider's side than Bagnaia's. But the cost was much greater for the defending champion.
Martin just had to play safe behind Marquez and add another 20 points to his lead. - Matt Beer
Martin's pointless Misano pitstop
Points before: Martin 311 Bagnaia 285
Points after: Martin 312 Bagnaia 305
Martin’s mistake in pitting at the San Marino Grand Prix as rain started to fall became obvious immediately. As the Pramac rider pulled in to switch bikes, he looked over the pit entry wall at every other rider staying out and passing him, and knew he had made the wrong decision.
Prioritising the race result over the championship battle was his downfall - a mistake he admitted to post-race, and put down to poor communication.
Local lad Bagnaia, meanwhile, used his experience at the circuit he grew up down the road from, and said it hadn’t smelt the same as when it rained on Thursday and so he knew it wasn’t going to rain enough to gamble on stopping.
Finishing 15th to score a solitary point closed Martin’s lead from 26 points to just seven, presenting Bagnaia with a massive opportunity in the title battle. - MW
Bagnaia instantly hands the initiative back
Points before: Martin 321 Bagnaia 317
Points after: Martin 341 Bagnaia 317
Martin's Misano I blunder should've been a game changer - and certainly felt like one in the moment - only to be immediately offset by him floundering in the 'sequel'.
A heavy favourite in any Misano race in the dry, he was rattled by what he perceived as a faulty rear tyre - but found himself coming back at the two race leaders ahead, 16 points already in the bag and 20 or even 25 on the radar as a faint but still possible dream.
He set faster laps than the next-fastest rider's best lap of the race on laps 15, 16, 18, 20. On lap 21, he fell, throwing away a podium finish the rest of the season proved he couldn't have afforded to lose. - VK
Sepang: Bagnaia's title-deciding error?
Points before: Martin 453 Bagnaia 436
Points after: Martin 465 Bagnaia 436
Having lost his pole advantage to Martin off the line at Sepang, Bagnaia had to redress the balance quickly in the sprint.
But he never got a proper chance to try before a painfully low-key low-side dropped him out of second place, out of the race and out of realistic title contention too.
The mistake left Martin free to take a very comfortable win that put him completely in control of the championship run-in. - MB
