MotoGP Australia Day 3, Debriefing Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati/3): "Did you do me a favor?", etc. (full)

Finishing 4th and 3rd, Francis Bagnaia may have conceded only 10 points at Phillip Island George Martin in the fight between the two men for the title of world champion MotoGP, but he did not win either the Sprint or the Australian Grand Prix, leaving that honour to the championship leader but also to Marc Marquez.

It is often said that scoring big points in difficulty is the strength of great champions, and this is of course the case, but a reaction is expected in Thailand, to make up for the 20-point deficit while 111 are still at stake...

As usual, we report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.

OK ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the post-race press conference, here at the end of a thrilling Qatar Airways Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, which this superb circuit delivered once again. Congratulations on a tough race to Gresini Racing rider Marc Marquez, as Marc took his third win of the season. Second place, and extending his lead over the World Champion to 20 points, was Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin. And the podium was completed by Ducati Lenovo Team rider, reigning World Champion Pecco Bagnaia. Gentlemen, congratulations to all three!

World Champion Pecco Bagnaia completes today’s podium. Pecco, it wasn’t, from the outside at least, the easiest weekend for you and the team here in Australia. Fourth in the sprint yesterday, third in the Grand Prix today, what do you think of today’s result?
Francis Bagnaia : “Unfortunately, we lost the direction a little yesterday, because on Friday I felt good, but yesterday the wind increased a lot and we had to change something for the race, and it didn’t work. I took the start, but as soon as I did the first lap I understood that it would be complicated to finish in front. But I tried to do the maximum and I finished fourth. Today, this morning in warm-up, we tried a different setup and it worked much better, but maybe it was a little too late, and in the race I felt good, better, but I was still struggling to let the bike turn. It was a step forward compared to yesterday, but not that much. And then I started to feel that I was forcing a lot on the front, and after 15 laps I finished it completely. Then, to keep the same rhythm, I tried to do it with the rear, but I finished the rear and in the last five laps I was completely in trouble."

And just quickly, before the start of the race, you were of course directly behind Marc, and if you saw what happened to him and did it change the way you did it: did you start the race off the line?
“I saw that he was taking his tear-off off, but he took it off and threw it on the wrong side, because the wind was blowing on that side. So he ended up under his bike and he tried to take it off, but he was under his bike (laughs), and we were very close to the start, so it wasn’t ideal. I saw him and I said ‘OK, I have to go more to the right’. But Maverick started to go inside, to the left, and I had to do a kind of slalom. We talked about not throwing the tear-off on the starting grid, because of the Miller problem that happened in 2021, 2020, in Misano, but we never made a rule. So it's something that depends more on the rider's feeling, but I recognise that if you have an insect in front of your face on your visor, it's impossible to see, or it distracts you a lot, and so it's better to remove it."

Do you feel that today Marc is doing you a favor, remembering that ten years ago, nine years ago, on this track, he won in front of Jorge Lorenzo and many people in Italy said that he did the job for Lorenzo? I hope that this time, nobody will say that. What can you say?

Francis Bagnaia then turns to Marc Marquez and asks him: "Did you do me a favor?"
Marc Marquez answers without flinching: "Today, yes. I take 5 points (bursts of laughter)."
Francis Bagnaia : "I think it was more for... he wanted to win. The possibility of a victory for him today was much higher because yesterday Jorge was really strong and today it is true that he missed the start again But his rhythm was much stronger, and finally he won. But I don't think he was thinking about 2015."