Slow starts to the weekend became commonplace in the autumn of 2023 , with Bagnaia often saving his best for Sunday afternoon . That strategy produced a number of uncomfortable situations however , most memorably in the Sprint races in Thailand , Qatar and Valencia , where he was comfortably outperformed by a resurgent Jorge Martin .
Bagnaia acknowledged he lost some of his “ explosive ” speed after the horrendous first-lap smash in Barcelona , and one aim is to recover this in the months ahead . And while the GP23 finished first and second in last year ’ s championship , winning 26 of last year ’ s 39 races along the way , the 27-year old believes it wasn ’ t always as easy to manage as it was commonly perceived .
“ Last year ’ s bike was almost perfect . But in some areas , it was very difficult ( to ride ),” he said . “ I would like to improve the level that I had at the start of last season , which was my explosivity . At the start I was always competitive but after Barcelona I lost it a bit . In the last three or four races I found it again , but I think it ’ s still something that I have to improve .”
Another point to improve ? Consistency . Bagnaia only crashed seven times in all of 2023 , but all of them bar two came at crucial times , in a Sunday race . “ The crashes are something we all know ( needs to improve ). I was with ( Franco ) Morbidelli and Maverick ( Viñales ) as the ones with fewer crashes last season – seven . But the problem for me was that five of these were in a race …”
Preseason testing was a dream , and Bagnaia feels completely at home with Ducati ’ s Desmosedici GP24 . “ We did a good step in front in terms of braking and corner speed .”
Asked to rate how prepared he feels from one to ten when testing in Qatar , Bagnaia said , “ Eight out of ten . In Malaysia we were 7 our of ten , and I wasn ’ t expecting to go this fast without pushing this much to arrive at this level . So this is great , but I want to take care about everything , keep calm .”
Previous years have taught Bagnaia to not get too excited , too early . And he ’ s likely to face an increased fight from fellow Ducati runners Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez . But the current # 1 looks calmer and more collected than ever as he guns for a third straight MotoGP™ crown . Don ’ t bet against him .
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