Francesco Bagnaia finds himself further from claiming the MotoGP world championship, now trailing leader Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) by 29 points.
In order to stay in contention, he cannot lose more than eight points to Martín in Sunday’s race at the Malaysian GP.
In an interview with DAZN, the Italian admitted that only Martín has something at stake at this point, as he is in a favorable position: ‘I’m going all out, as always. From this moment on, Jorge is the only one who can lose, because with 29 points [ahead], he is the one who could make mistakes and lose out. After all, we are both performing at a much higher level than the others, and even if he is a bit slower, he will still finish second. So, we need something more’.
Speaking to the press, Bagnaia promised to give his best in Sunday’s race: ‘I will go full send, like always. I will try to win. We know perfectly that the only negatives I have are on the Sprint races, because all the mistakes I did, all the lost points, are on Saturdays. This is a shame from my point of view, but Jorge was just better on the Saturdays this season, and we have to say that he did a very good job there’.
The 2022 and 2023 champion acknowledged that he doesn’t have full control over the outcome and hopes for strong performances from other riders: ‘Tomorrow I will go full send. I really hope Marc [Márquez] and Enea [Bastianini] will find something to be close to us, because I think in the worst situation right now, Jorge will finish second because we don’t have any rivals. But giving my maximum, winning the race, will not be enough. So, we will need something more’.