Francesco Bagnaia expressed his frustration after another loss to his rival Jorge Martin in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint, where he finished in third place. While Enea Bastianini took victory in the race, Bagnaia couldn’t defend his second place from Martin, which allowed his rival to extend the lead to 22 points, with only three races and two sprints left.

This means Martin can secure the championship by finishing second in each of the grand prix weekends, even if Bagnaia wins all of them.

Bagnaia is determined not to leave anything to chance in the upcoming races, but he was visibly disappointed about being overtaken by Martin twice during the sprint. “My feeling wasn’t ideal as it was this morning,” he admitted. “I struggled to be competitive on the braking; my fastest sectors during the weekend were sectors one and three, but today I was losing time there.

“Fortunately, we only lost two points, and we have tomorrow to try to close this gap because Jorge can just finish second and still be champion. We need to focus on the results and strive for perfection.” Bagnaia also suggested that Martin may have violated track limits enough to receive a penalty, stating he observed Martin go onto the green zones four times. “I thought so, and I started counting. When I saw it twice, I thought one more would be a penalty, so I counted two more, but I might have miscounted.”

Regarding his title bid, Bagnaia isn’t relying on support from other Ducati riders to help him over Martin. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve never had any help from anyone at Ducati. I prefer a clean race and a fair battle; I always strive to race as cleanly as possible without making contact with anyone. I also don’t want any help, nor will I ask for any.”