Despite suffering five DNF’s, four of which were individual errors throughout the 2022 season, Bagnaia became the newest MotoGP world champion today in Valencia.
The Ducati rider also became the Italian manufacturer’s second-ever MotoGP champion after Casey Stoner, and first in 15 years.
An open and honest Bagnaia sat down in front of the media following his ninth place finish at the season-finale, stating he needed to make serious improvements following early mistakes that made a world title win look very slim.
“The most difficult moment outside of today; well not today but yesterday, was Sachsnering,” said Bagnaia. “I was very competitive like in Le Mans with a possibility to win the race but I crashed.
“In that moment I recognized that my weak point was that I’m a rider with a lot of ups and downs, with a good speed but not with consistency.
“And to accept that was not easy. From that moment I recognized that I had a problem and I tried to improve myself.”
After overcoming his early season mistakes Bagnaia managed to overturn the biggest deficit in premier class history.
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Bagnaia trailed Fabio Quartararo by 91 points just ten races ago, and not counting Japan where made another error on the final lap, Bagnaia has been without doubt the best rider on the grid.
Of all the mistakes he made, Bagnaia confirmed that he momentarily lost faith at Sachsenring.
“I just lost the faith on the championship for like one hour after Sachsenring. But even in that moment I was knowing there was a chance to be world champion,” added Bagnaia.
“We performed in an incredible way in the second part of the season and we analyzed everything at home to understand why I was crashing, why I was making so many mistakes.
“From that moment we did something incredible. We really deserved this title.”