**”Ducati Under Pressure: Analyzing the Bagnaia-Marquez Incident and the Need for Strategic Intervention”**

Should Ducati intervene following the collision between Bagnaia and Alex Marquez?

Podcast discussion: "Is there some uncertainty due to the season still being early, making it difficult to tell other Ducati riders that they are no longer in contention and should therefore hold back in such situations?"

The contentious incident that occurred late in the race on Sunday between Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez at the Aragon MotoGP resulted in both Ducati racers losing their spots on the final podium.

This also implied that after coming to Spain with a five-point advantage in the championship, the defending champion Bagnaia departed the country injured and trailing Jorge Martin by 23 points.

In the most recent episode of the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, presenter Jordan Moreland inquired:

The main highlight of the race was the intense duel between Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez for a spot on the podium. Bagnaia seemed poised to overtake Marquez, and it appeared to be only a matter of time before it happened. However, an unexpected incident occurred.

“What are your thoughts on the situation? It appears to have happened not long ago. Clearly, both cyclists are pointing fingers at each other…”

"A disastrous weekend for Bagnaia, marking his worst performance since the Sprint format was introduced last year," commented Pete McLaren, editor of Crash.net MotoGP.

"Virtually everything went awry for him: two tire problems, qualifying on the less favorable side of the track, and to cap it all, a collision occurred when it seemed inevitable that he would overtake Alex Marquez for third place."

"Clearly, Alex was competing in front of his home crowd and aiming to possibly share the podium with Marc after his remarkable return. As you might expect, he was determined not to yield, and ultimately, there simply wasn't enough space for both of them."

The issue now is, who spotted whom first? And who was supposed to yield? The officials decided not to take any further steps. They mentioned reviewing some technical data, but the specifics remain unclear.

"The data aspect was intriguing because when Pecco commented post-decision, he stated that the information indicated Alex might not have slowed down as much as typically anticipated in such a crash."

When two riders on identical bikes are involved in an accident, the manufacturer has access to the data from both bikes. This is precisely what Ducati would have examined. We are aware that they did something similar after the Portimao incident, where Marc Marquez and Bagnaia crashed. Marc casually mentioned that Ducati could review all the data to determine who was responsible.

“Pecco is now claiming that the data indicates he wasn’t at fault. Did the Stewards have access to this information too? If they had, would it have made a difference? It’s uncertain.

"Another helpful feature would have been the 'visor cam' perspective we saw from Alex Rins during the private Misano test, allowing us to see where each rider was focusing!"

"A racing event with significant consequences. Pecco benefited from Marc preventing Martin from securing the most points this weekend, and fortunately, both Pecco and Alex Marquez escaped without serious injuries."

“What do you think about it, Lewis?” Moreland asked.

“I’ll play the role of Devil's advocate for a moment when it comes to data. Every time someone mentions data, I can’t help but recall Honda in 2015. They were confident they had evidence showing that Valentino had kicked Marc and were eager to reveal it to everyone!” stated MotoGP journalist Lewis Duncan.

"If I were to assign blame, I would place a bit more on Pecco. We've witnessed similar behavior from him previously—in Portugal, and to some extent during the Sprint race at Jerez. It appears Pecco struggles with choosing the right moments to engage in battles."

"We observed this situation with Marc in Portugal. Even if you couldn't see him from the outside, it was clear he would re-enter the track. So, why position your bike there? It's obvious that would lead to a collision; handle the corner more skillfully."

"At Jerez, when he found himself squeezed between Bezzecchi and Brad Binder – you're faster than both of them, step back. Don't engage. The situation was similar this time."

"You noticed that Alex didn't check his surroundings. Alex was ahead when he went wide at Turn 12. You observed that he wasn't aware of your presence. Turn 13, where you make a sharp right, is a narrow spot, and it's highly probable that Alex will be there."

"In my opinion, you need to be more strategic, especially if you're aiming for the championship. Alex should have checked his rear and thought, ‘This is going to be close. I'll pull back and try to make a move later.’ Similarly, Pecco should have considered, ‘There's still time. I can accomplish this later.’"

"In every instance I've brought up, Pecco has ended up in a worse position and has lost points as a result. I believe Ducati should have a discussion with Pecco about being more strategic in his interactions with other riders. They should emphasize that securing a 4th place finish is preferable to ending the race without any points at all."

"Pecco occasionally seems to have difficulty accepting the position available to him. In contrast, Martin has recently been content with finishing second when that's the best outcome, which has resulted in him leading the championship by 23 points."

Moreland responded: “Pete, this situation is similar to what happened last season with Bagnaia and Vinales at Le Mans. It’s unfortunate timing since Martin is performing flawlessly and accumulating points.”

"The issue of team orders, which is always a difficult topic, comes up next,” commented McLaren. “It's inevitable to draw comparisons between Sunday's race and previous years when other Ducati riders understood they needed to allow the title contenders some extra space."

"Currently, there's some uncertainty as we're not deep enough into the season to tell the other Ducati riders that they're mathematically eliminated and should therefore hold back in such scenarios."

“Perhaps Pecco and Martin, being the front-runners in the championship, believe that the other Ducati racers will give them more space on the track. However, those other riders are still under the impression that they haven't received any instructions to ease off, so they continue to compete fiercely for every spot.”

The next issue to consider is what advice you would give to Marc Marquez and Bastianini, who are slightly trailing the leading duo but still have a viable opportunity.

Duncan mentioned, “Ducati should consider examining this issue for its benefit. The last thing you want is for Alex Marquez to clash with Pecco Bagnaia again, resulting in Martin gaining more points while Marc leads the race.”

"We've witnessed the fan base become quite toxic in these scenarios, when they believe things like 'this happened, sabotage, and so on'."

"Ducati should take the initiative and declare: 'These are our contenders for the title. These are the riders capable of winning the championship. If you're not among them, don't compete aggressively against them.'"

“We don't want that outcome to happen; it's a worst-case scenario for Ducati if Martin is leading the championship. They can't afford to let Martin switch to Aprilia while holding the number one position.”

"I found it intriguing to observe Gigi Dall’Igna's reaction after Marc finished the race. He appeared quite… distressed. It seemed as if something was heavily on his mind."

"He seemed quite displeased. It was as though he saw the situation and thought: Pecco has crashed, Marc is securing victories – which initially caused concern about disturbing the balance before letting him join Gresini – and Martin is at the top of the championship standings."

"They should consider that if the circumstances had been handled in another way and if Marc had been willing to join Pramac, we could have had both riders on our team."

"In my opinion, Ducati has several issues to address in the coming weeks. One critical aspect is that they must handle the current circumstances more effectively; otherwise, they risk facing significant embarrassment by the end of the season."

Explore Further

Breaking News

Recent Updates

Site Map

Crash.Net

©1999-2024 Crash Media Group

Reproducing text, photos, or illustrations, whether in whole or in part, is prohibited in any manner.