That Pecco Bagnaia went into Sunday’s final race of the 2022 MotoGP season in Valencia needing just two points from a possible 25 to secure his first premier class world title, is remarkable in itself.
At the midway point of the campaign, the Ducati rider had trailed Yamaha’s defending champion Fabio Quartararo by 91 points, a deficit never before overhauled in the history of the Championship.
Much of that struggle for Bagnaia, was down to the four crashes he endured in those opening ten races, three of which were unforced errors of the Italian’s own making, as he pushed too hard in his attempts to claim just one or two extra points, by attempting to keep pace with riders who, at the time, he simply did not have the rhythm to do so.
With those mistakes at that point seemingly proving so costly, it felt as though the title was already out of reach for Bagnaia at that halfway point, which given the work Ducati had put into building a bike capable of ending their 15-year wait for a MotoGP Riders’ title – going all the way back to Casey Stoner in 2007 – will have put major pressure on the Italian.
Riding for his home factory, and having previously claimed a world title in the Moto2 class, Bagnaia looked to be Ducati’s chosen one to take them back to the very top step, meaning that sort of situation he found himself in midway through this season, may have led to some major scrutiny on the 25-year-old.
Indeed, with Bagnaia having already missed out on the title to Quartararo last year, a title that was decided when the Italian crashed out in Misano when there had been two races remaining, there may have been some questions about whether he was in fact the right man to do the job for Ducati, had his errors again cost him this time around.
Moving on from that 91-point deficit at the half way stage of the season though, Bagnaia then produced a run of four straight wins followed by a second place, to reduce the deficit to just ten points, as Quartararo’s title defense began to falter.
But then, in the Japanese GP at Motegi, it seemed as though Bagnaia’s old habits had come back to haunt him again.
Attempting to pass Quartararo for eighth – a move that would have given an advantage of just one extra point in the title race – the Italian again crashed out with an innocuous and doubtless avoidable crash, that allowed his Yamaha-steeded rival to extend his advantage back out to 18 points, with four races to go.
As a result of that, the pressure was once again on Bagnaia in the title race, and given the mistakes he had made in that position already this season, there may have been some wondering whether he could cope with that in the run in to the end of the campaign.
Ultimately though, the Ducati rider would cope with that in perfect style. Just a week after his crash in Japan, in treacherous and soaking conditions in Thailand, Bagnaia played things safe and sensitive to hold his nerve and claim a solid third place, not risking anything by attempting to claim any extra points for the win, while Quartararo dropped down the order and failed to score, reducing the gap to just two points.
It was a similar story two weeks later in Australia, when with Quartararo again dropping down the order, Bagnaia again elected to play things safe with a third place that put him into the lead in the title race, without risking anything for a few extra points by getting involved in a thrilling last lap fight for the win between two riders in Alex Rins and Marc Marquez who were out of the title race and therefore holding nothing back, which could have proved so costly for the Ducati man to be caught up in.
The penultimate race of the year in Malaysia at Sepang was a different story for Bagnaia, who this time did have the pace to take victory, and he held off his future factory Ducati teammate, the hard-charging Enea Bastianini in impressive style to do so , and ensure he needed just two points in Valencia to win his first MotoGP championship.
But while that may have left Bagnaia with just a relatively simple job to do in claiming a fourteenth-place finish on Sunday, there was still some considerable work to be done.
With the Ducati rider struggling to get to grips with the cold and windy conditions at the start of the Valencian weekend, he was able to produce a perfect combination of risk-free riding and perfectly timed fast laps throughout practice and qualifying, to secure an eighth place on the grid that ensured he started in a reasonably comfortable position, relative to what he needed to do to claim the title.
From there, the race itself then saw Bagnaia deliver the start he needed, to ensure there was no risk of him being dragged too far down the field too soon, even going wheel to wheel with Quartararo himself in order to do so, and establish himself with a relatively unassailable place in the top ten in doing so.
That was despite losing a wing from the front of his Ducati while clashing with his title rival in the very early laps of the race.
Losing such a part will have left Bagnaia with a much greater challenge in controlling his bike with those unbalanced aerodynamics it left him with, and the fact that barely seemed to bother him throughout the race is testament to his skill and ability in such challenging circumstances, as he comfortably brought his Ducati home to end his team’s long overdue quest for glory, and write his own name in the history books in the process as a MotoGP World Champion.
The fact that Bagnaia was able to do that, first after that somewhat disastrous first half of the season, and then after having to hold his nerve following another unforced error late on in Japan, highlights both the quality he possesses, and his growing composure under pressure.
Indeed, with Bagnaia at times settling for results in those final few races of the season rather than putting everything on the line, it seems the Ducati man is starting to combine his outright speed and ability, with a willingness to show the maturity required to take a moment, and think about the longer term aim of the Championship as a whole, rather than the odd extra point or trophy.
If he can continue that into next year and beyond, then you feel there is a good chance that Bagnaia’s first MotoGP world title will not be his last.
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