Bagnaia calls out Marquez’s overtake after the Spanish Grand Prix Sprint
Marc Marquez’s aggressive move to win the Spanish Grand Prix Sprint was branded unnecessary, and Francesco Bagnaia wasn’t happy about it.
The Ducati Lenovo rider jumped ahead of Bagnaia on the penultimate lap but already had a long-lap penalty to serve for his earlier incident. This gave the defending world champion a clear run to the finish, eventually winning by more than 12 seconds.
It was Marquez’s first race win for Gresini Ducati, but his aggressive move at Turn 4 drew plenty of criticism.
Bagnaia didn’t have a problem with Marquez’s move to win the Jerez Sprint
Early in the Spanish GP Sprint, Bagnaia was one of the first riders to swap bikes, which eventually put him into the lead after Fermin Aldeguer and Brad Binder both went down. Even so, he couldn’t keep Marquez behind once his teammate had fully settled back in.
With just under three laps to go, Marquez swept past Bagnaia at Turn 9. The overtake was forceful, but Bagnaia wasn’t bothered by it and said that he thought it was a fair move given how much quicker Marquez looked in those conditions.
“In these kinds of conditions, you have to be smart and lucky, and there we had a bit of both,” he told Canal+. “I tried to be smart when I saw that the rain was intensifying. Maybe I was a lap late, but it would have been the same.”
“I just tried to push in the first few laps, knowing that there would be rain…a little bit like this morning. Afterward there were too many risks following him because Marc was really very fast…”
“I think when you are fighting for victory, that’s OK. He was faster than me, and it’s difficult to manage that when you’re on a wet track like this. I didn’t really defend, either. I’m trying to be smart and stay on my wheels, not take risks.”
Michael Laverty and Neil Hodgson felt Marquez’s move was hard on Bagnaia
Bagnaia didn’t voice any complaints about Marquez’s pass when speaking to the media after the Sprint at Jerez. But Hodgson thought it was aggressive, even if the lead Marquez pulled out afterwards did back up the decision.
Speaking on TNT Sports 2 (14:21), Hodgson said: “This was such an aggressive move from miles back on a wet track. Who am I to say it seems unnecessary?
“He’s pulling away at the front, but it was a proper last lap lunge with, at that point, two and a bit [laps] to go. I mean, he’s checked out. At this point now, Bagnaia has gone: ‘You want it more than me? You can have it’.”
The conditions were difficult as rain intensified during the race, and Laverty felt that while Marquez saw his chance and made the move stick without contact, it came across as harsh but ultimately clean.
Laverty added (14:37): “[It was] not really necessary at this point of the race. A little bit harsh on Pecco, but clean in the end.
“[He] didn’t make contact, and that was the race-winning move. Pecco did respond and try to match Marc throughout, but Marc was just too good today when the rain came down stronger; he upped the ante even further.”
Read more:
