Bagnaia: "Marquez played with us"

Arriving in Thailand after pre-season testing that was not perfect, unlike the #93, Bagnaia knew he would have work to do in view of the first two races of the season, in Buriram. For such a competitor, double world champion in 2022 and 2023, the raw result is not the one sought. The damage limitation operation went well, however, and Bagnaia thus reduced the potential losses against Marc Márquez, author of the perfect weekend.

"I'm here to win, not to finish third, so I'm not happy", he began by explaining to the microphone of MotoGP. “But I’m satisfied, not entirely, but it could have been worse. We did a very good job during the weekend to sort out some of the issues we had in pre-season testing. We finished the job too late because I focused on the race on Saturday morning, which is too late. To finish third in both races after struggling like that is not so bad. We have to continue like this, and I hope to find the feeling of last year because the bike is similar. I will also try to improve myself personally.”

"Marquez played with us"

Clearly beaten in Saturday's sprint, Bagnaia was at least able to give an illusion this Sunday. The reason? Marc Márquez was struggling with his front tire pressure, which forced him to let his brother Álex pass. The #73 had a less good pace, so the #63 was able to catch up. But the Italian knew full well that a new reversal of positions was going to come between the two brothers, so great was Marc Márquez's advantage. The fight turned into a battle for second place, which Bagnaia was unable to win.

“Every time I closed the gap, I lost time directly because I had to watch my tire pressure. I tried to be as close as possible, to maybe force him to make a mistake. The only way to overtake would have been to have the same pace as Marc, because he was playing with us. I was a little faster than Alex but not enough to overtake him. I lacked grip at the rear, honestly. I was making up a lot of time in the race on braking. I was competitive in the corners too, but I was losing too much time on acceleration.”

When it comes to looking ahead to the rest of the season, the man who finished second in the championship behind Jorge Martín last year is not giving up. However, he knows that the upcoming tracks should favour his teammate: "I know that in the next two Grands Prix I will have to take the maximum, like this weekend. I will try to reduce the gap, in Argentina and Austin we can do something but we have to wait for the Grand Prix weekends to know. Qatar and Jerez are good tracks for me, so it should be fine."

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