MotoGP News: Francesco Bagnaia Opens Up On 2024 Championship Loss To Jorge Martin

Saajan Jogia | Nov 21, 2024

Apr 15, 2023; Austin, TX, USA; Francesco Bagnaia (1) of Italy and Ducati Lenovo Team talks to Luca Marini (10) of Italy and Mooney VR46 Racing Team at the finish of qualifying round two at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images / Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

Ducati Lenovo rider Francesco Bagnaia admitted that he is at peace with his 2024 championship loss to Jorge Martin, stating that he isn’t the type to hold grudges or frustration. He is clear about the reasons behind his loss and holds no hard feelings toward anyone.

Martin entered the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona with a 21-point advantage over his championship rival Bagnaia. Starting fourth on the grid, Martin needed just a top-nine finish to clinch the championship, even if Bagnaia, who began the race from pole position, went on to win.

In a dramatic finale to an intense season, Bagnaia secured victory, followed by Marc Marquez in second place, while Martin secured third. With this result, Martin was crowned the 2024 MotoGP World Champion, earning the coveted number 1 plate, which he will proudly take to Aprilia next season.

For Bagnaia, the two-time world champion, the reason for his loss was clear, and he made no excuses about it. He knew that closing a 24-point gap after suffering eight DNFs during the season was always going to be a tough challenge. Despite giving it his all, he ultimately lost the title by 10 points. Speaking after the post-season test at Barcelona, where he tested the GP24, GP25, and a hybrid of both Ducati MotoGP bikes, he said:

“No, honestly. I’m not that type of guy that has frustration about things.

“I know why I lost. And I will never make excuses for what happened.

“I already said after Malaysia, considering after Malaysia I arrived in the last GP with 24 points of gap, it was quite difficult to imagine to win.

“And Jorge was super good. It’s ok like this. Honestly, yesterday [Monday] I walked a lot in Barcelona.

“I just woke up here in the paddock and I said ‘ok, I will go to lunch in a restaurant in front of the sea’.

“Then I walked for the next hour, like 10 kilometres for the day, and it helped.”

Addressing the "huge" difference between the current Ducati GP24 and 2025's GP25 MotoGP bikes, he said:

“We tested many things today and the GP25 is a good base to start developing and improving [upon].

“Our engineers and the team will work a lot this winter because we need to improve the base we tested.

“Luckily me and Marc [Marquez] had the same feeling about the bike and this is very important to go in the same direction on the development. This is great.

“Already the difference between '24 and '25 is quite huge and I think we will not have a big step for Malaysia [test in February] because the step [forward] was already here.

“But we need to arrange it a bit [in terms of getting everything right]. Also, we need to adapt the set-up of the new bike a bit.”