The Spaniard comes into this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix trailing Bagnaia by 14 factors, after struggling to fourth within the Malaysian GP behind the manufacturing unit Ducati team rider.
As such, Bagnaia can win the championship within the penultimate spherical of the yr in Qatar if he outscores Martin by 23 factors.
This has solely occurred as soon as in 2023, when Bagnaia scored 28 factors greater than Martin within the season-opener in Portugal.
Whereas each have equal manufacturing unit Ducati equipment, Bagnaia does have allies throughout the Italian marque’s secure.
At current, no crew orders have been issued, however Enea Bastianini could possibly be deployed to assist Bagnaia – whereas the previous, whose seat is beneath risk from Martin proper now, shall be eager to maintain churning out outcomes like his Malaysia win to safeguard his place.
Bagnaia might additionally depend on his fellow VR46 Academy members Marco Bezzecchi – who formally dropped out of the title race final week – and Luca Marini.
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Workforce, Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
“I don’t care about buddies, I simply care about myself,” Martin mentioned when requested if he was fearful that Bagnaia probably has extra allies in Ducati than him.
“I really feel that if I do my 100% I can beat all of them.
“So, I’m centered on the weekend, centered on myself after which if anyone will assist him or not, it’s not my [problem]. I can’t management that, so I don’t actually care.”
Martin concedes there may be strain on each riders in Qatar as “you’ll lose the championship” in the event you make one mistake.
“I feel for positive there may be a whole lot of strain, everyone knows this,” he added.
“I really feel prefer it’s a extremely essential weekend as a result of we can’t make any errors.
“Should you make a mistake, you’ll lose the championship. So, we have to be quick but additionally not make any errors. So, I assume it’s a extremely sophisticated weekend.”
Bagnaia has already dominated out Qatar being a match level for himself, whereas Martin is assured the championship battle “will go to Valencia” subsequent weekend.