How Martin masterminded his MotoGP triumph against Bagnaia

Another season, another duel between Jorge Martin and Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia. But this time it was a year-long fight; a gruelling contest of 40 battles. In essence, this production set up as a repeat of 2023. Independent Pramac Ducati tries to topple mighty factory Ducati; a private wrangle set against the Italian marque’s choking dominance in terms of both numbers and performance.

But casting matters. And one of the protagonists came to the stage a new man in 2024. A playwright might call it character development. Name it what you will: it was a subtly different performance by Martin that earned him success this time around.

The words ‘if’ and ‘would’ crop up with monotonous regularity in any analysis of an attritional tug of war that fell to Martin by just 10 points after his steady ride to third in the Barcelona finale. They’re probably swirling in Bagnaia’s mind as much as any this winter.

But going down that path only lands you with a book’s worth of fiction and an unfair conviction that Bagnaia lost this championship rather than Martin winning it. The reality is that Martin earned the title by displaying a better level of consistency than Bagnaia, primarily through falling off less than his rival.

This story is best told by the year-end podium tallies. Bagnaia won 11 grands prix to Martin’s three. Yet Martin equalled him on the Sunday podium count: 16-16. When Pecco won, in other words, it was rarely a hammerblow for Martin. He would be just a little down the road, amassing good points.

Now for the sprints. Each man won seven. Nothing to split them there, despite Martin’s fearsome Saturday reputation. However, Martin took 16 podiums to Bagnaia’s 10. See above. Martin nailed the right mix of speed and sense under the current system. This is what champions do.

Martin spoke openly about his mental battles during his title fight – perhaps his biggest challenge to sealing the championship in the finale

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

And that brings us back to our leads in the 2024 run of Pecco v Jorge. Bagnaia, the analytical north Italian, was supposed to be the calm mathematician once again. Martin, the hothead from Spain’s teeming capital, was meant to be fast but fragile.

But nobody told Martin that he had to stick to his established character. So he found himself a sports psychologist, Xero Gasol, to help him tweak his approach. He learned how to get the best out of himself, take his maturity up a notch and remember the joy of racing even in pressure situations – while trying to retain a sense of perspective. This was a championship won largely between the ears.

At no point was it easy, however. All year long, Martin was far more open about his doubts and weaknesses than your average elite sportsman. Even more so after the job was done.

The mental strength Martin developed proved decisive in terms of the consistency that won him the crown. As the year went on, he understood the paradox that he was more likely to make a mistake if he eased off

“I was struggling with my mental health,” he confessed of the early part of the campaign. “Last season, even after being second, I was quite happy. But then I started to have a lot of fears. I was really scared I would never be champion in MotoGP. Thanks to my coach I improved a lot. I was more focused on the hope of winning than the fear of losing.”

The mental strength Martin developed proved decisive in terms of the consistency that won him the crown. As the year went on, he understood the paradox that he was more likely to make a mistake if he eased off. As Bagnaia discovered, a rival who goes faster when he’s playing conservative is tough to haul in once you fall behind. The third time Bagnaia did so, at Motorland Aragon in September, would indeed be the last.

Martin’s progress on eliminating tumbles was notable – only one of his four came after the summer break. Most notably before the recess, he crashed leading the Spanish and German Grands Prix, the latter with just a lap remaining. He also fell off in the Mugello sprint. After the holidays? Just the crash at Mandalika. (Technically this wasn’t a DNF since he remounted, but the fall led to a zero score). There was also a tactical error when he overreacted to spots of rain at Misano, landing up with just one point after pitting.

Bagnaia made bloopers in the Barcelona, Silverstone and Sepang sprints, and his Emilia Romagna GP tumble was also his own doing. In terms of clear errors, it’s a draw: each got it wrong four times. But while all Martin’s mistakes were solo efforts, Bagnaia had additional incidents that were a little fuzzier. These could occupy what-if theorists for an entire winter.

Bagnaia’s clash with Alex Marquez at Aragon put the Italian on the backfoot in the title race against Martin

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The mystery technical issue that put Bagnaia out of the Le Mans sprint was clear enough. But then there were the three incidents that involved other riders. There was the first-corner accident in the Jerez sprint and a crash with Marc Marquez in Portugal. Lastly, that Aragon turning point hinged on Bagnaia’s clash with Alex Marquez. Blame was debatable in all of them but, as Bagnaia admitted after the season, he could have “understood some situations better”.

On that note, contrast Martin’s defeat to Enea Bastianini at the Emilia Romagna GP. The factory Ducati bullied Martin off the road to take the lead on the last lap. Toughing it out or responding like the proverbial hothead could have meant a fall for Martin. Instead, he turned the other cheek and bagged 20 points on a day when Bagnaia got none.

Relations between the top two were never tested in Bastianini fashion. The relationship between Martin and Bagnaia continued to be courteous and sporting. Neither the media nor the promoters could find any chink in their genuine respect for each other. The same went for factory Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi and his counterpart at Pramac, Gino Borsoi.

Ducati allowed Pramac’s challenge to play out without interference. That showed an admirable awareness of the bigger picture. After all, having eight bikes on the grid – particularly Pramac’s GP24s – is part of the reason for the marque’s dominance. Martin winning the riders’ title for the independent squad could almost be seen as a reward for all that data that helped Bagnaia win in 2022 and 2023.

A final point on the duel: if you think champions should have raw speed out of the box, Martin’s your man. The second year of the sprint format again underlined that Bagnaia needs more practice time (and associated data from the Ducati hordes) to truly get going. Maybe that’s fine – but qualifying effectively starting on Fridays makes things harder for him and had a knock-on effect in some sprints. He was also exposed when weather hit practice, as seen in Australia.

That this was a two-horse race from the outset did have its downsides. Keeping the hype around a polite duel for 20 weekends from March to November can be a tough task. Thankfully there were a couple of subplots.

At the start of the season, the interplay between hyper-hyped rookie Pedro Acosta and reborn legend Marc Marquez was arguably the show. Acosta arrived in Qatar as reigning Moto2 champion and was touted as the next Marquez. The six-time MotoGP world champion, on the other hand, had a Ducati at last. Not a GP24, sure, but, after years fighting injury and recalcitrant Honda, 2024 felt like the start of a fresh – and probably final – chapter in his career.

Neither was expected to fight for the title. Acosta was a newbie on an independent Tech3 KTM and Marquez, vast experience notwithstanding, was on a year-old satellite Ducati fielded by Gresini. But would their genius overcome those handicaps? That was the question in Qatar.

Rookie Acosta and a rejuvenated Marquez between them injected excitement into 2024 beyond the title battle

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

When the 19-year-old dared to pass the 31-year-old at the opener, it was hard not to be gripped by the narrative around two remarkable talents at opposite ends of their racing lives, both battling their machinery while one tried to snatch the ‘youngest premier class winner’ record from the other.

They repeated their antics in Portugal, where Acosta inherited a first podium after the Marquez/Bagnaia clash. Acosta had another rostrum to his name – and Marquez none – by the time the circus arrived in Spain. But it was Marquez who stole the show at Jerez, very nearly toppling Bagnaia in a memorable battle.

Their paths diverged after that as the hype settled and the latest Ducatis stretched their advantage. Marquez eventually won three grands prix in favourable conditions, but Acosta would have to make do with five podiums and a pole at Motegi. But the efforts of these two ‘disadvantaged’ contenders complemented the title back and forth. Against this intriguing backdrop, each will step up to their respective factory teams in 2025 with yet another dollop of expectation.

That Americas GP win for Vinales was all that prevented full marks for Ducati on Sundays, but the marque’s dominance did indeed go up a notch from an already remarkable 17 out of 20 grand prix wins in 2023

Acosta came within a whisker of defeating works KTM rider Brad Binder to fifth in the championship. Both were a long way behind Bagnaia’s team-mate Bastianini, but that at least put them ahead of half of the Ducatis in the final reckoning. So KTM was the second-best manufacturer overall but underwhelming in its efforts to kick on from 2023, when Binder had won a pair of sprint races. Though there was a degree of consistency, the Austrians gathered no victory at all this time around.

Aprilia mustered fewer points and generally battled, but was the only manufacturer to win anything apart from Ducati. Noale’s finest has always fancied Silverstone and Barcelona, and Aleix Espargaro duly delivered a pole in Britain and a sprint win on the June visit to Catalonia. Undisputed highlight, however, was Maverick Vinales sweeping the weekend at Austin.

That Americas GP win for Vinales was all that prevented full marks for Ducati on Sundays, but the marque’s dominance did indeed go up a notch from an already remarkable 17 out of 20 grand prix wins in 2023.

At the other end of the field, the Japanese manufacturers hit new lows. Honda had at least won a race in 2023, and Yamaha had snatched podiums. There was none of that this time, with Honda often propping up the grid as it got to grips with life after Marquez. But both showed signs of improvement later in the season, and concessions should help that trend continue.

Though it didn’t appear to sour relations, Martin had extra motivation after being snubbed by the Ducati factory team for a second time just after the Italian GP. He’d come close to a 2023 ride there before Bastianini got the nod. Then, this June, it dramatically dropped him from its 2025 plans in favour of Marc Marquez. Martin promptly signed with Aprilia for next year, meaning he raced more than half the season in the knowledge that this was likely to be his last title shot for a while. And with a point to prove.

Martin had a point to prove in 2024, and delivered Pramac the title before heading to Aprilia

Photo by: Dorna