After having the upper hand since Friday, Francesco Bagnaia confirmed his superiority in the MotoGP Italian GP with a clear victory in Sunday’s race at Mugello. The Ducati man took the lead right after the start and never looked back, despite the pressure from Jorge Martín (Pramac/Ducati) behind him.
During the press conference, the Italian stated: ‘I am very happy, satisfied, proud… this weekend was fantastic. I had a good start in the race; yesterday was fantastic, today it was very important to be leading right from the first lap just to set my pace. And the strategy in the first two corners worked perfectly. More than this was impossible‘.
Although his approach to the first corners had the desired effect, Bagnaia revealed that he was close to a different outcome: ‘For me it’s not a matter of risk, it’s more about being in the best possible position at the right moment. Honestly, I decided to go around the outside because I remember that last year [Jack] Miller overtook me at the start, and I just stayed on the outside to be on the inside for turn 1. I just tried to do the same, but Maverick [Viñales] braked very hard and my strategy was almost ruined. But as soon as I saw that he was running wide, I just tried to cross his path and it was the best decision. And then I saw that Jorge didn’t approach the exit of turn 1 strongly, so I decided to take advantage of this to overtake him in turn 2‘.
Regarding Martín’s apparent approach towards the end and immediate reaction, the 2022 and 2023 champion explained that it was part of his strategy: ‘Today it was very difficult to always be at the same pace. I tried to be as consistent as possible, but after seven or eight laps I started to see that it was very difficult with the front tire. The rear tire wear was very consistent, but the front tire whenever I tried to do two laps at the same pace, I started to have a lot of movement, I was losing. So I decided to try a different strategy, which was to do a cooling lap between two fast laps, and it worked perfectly’.
As for the emotions experienced on the podium, Bagnaia commented: ‘Honestly when you are there, as an Italian, looking at the front of the podium and seeing this sea of people with your hat, with your number, your flag, as an Italian it’s unbelievable. It makes it more special, more magical, and I love Mugello for this. I loved it when I was very young, I still love it. It is true that in 2022 we started to see a bit more people, in 2023 it was good, but this year was like going back in time. It was amazing’.
