Marc Márquez posed a significant threat to Francesco Bagnaia during several laps of the MotoGP Thai GP. Before crashing with 13 laps to go, the Gresini rider repeatedly attacked the race leader.
The Ducati rider acknowledged the risks involved but didn’t feel the situations were particularly dangerous, explaining his approach to managing the duel and Márquez’s attacks at turn 12:
– I didn’t think it was dangerous. But I was very strong in those braking points. I was hearing that he was getting closer there, because after the risk that Jorge [Martín] took on lap 1 or lap 2 at turn 11 losing the rear, I said: «I need to take care, to enter there a bit easier». And I was hearing that Marc was gaining a bit there, so my goal was to brake as harder as possible at turn 12 to not give him a big chance to overtake.
Bagnaia then said: ‘I knew that I was very good coming out from turn 1, but it was better to stay ahead. Every time I heard he was getting closer, I was braking very hard there, and it was tough also for him to stop the bike. And as soon as he was entering, I was preparing the exit. And that corner is not like the one in Portimão, because it’s 90º, so it’s not coming back, and it’s not risky to close the line’.