Francesco Bagnaia feels a “different strategy” he used to defend from Enea Bastianini than he usually would was the “key” to securing a fourth straight MotoGP win at Misano.
The factory Ducati rider did well to recover from fifth on the grid after picking up a three-place grid drop for a practice transgression to run second before the end of the opening tour, which would swiftly become the lead after team-mate Jack Miller crashed out before Bagnaia passed Bastianini at Turn 7.
The Italian would go onto lead every remaining lap of the San Marino Grand Prix subsequent to his pass on his countryman, though he was forced to fend off the advances of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales as well as a resurgent Bastianini in the closing circulations, the Gresini man having looked after his rubber more effectively.
Despite getting close on several occasions across the final few tours, Bagnaia ultimately clung onto an unprecedented fourth-successive victory for a Ducati rider in the premier class by just 0.034s – a success he reckons was made possible by a “different strategy” of not covering off Bastianini’s attacks, rather focussing on riding his own line.
“The main thing today was to win in front of the crowd, and I’m very satisfied because the race pace was incredible,” explained Bagnaia.
“At the start I think all the Ducati’s were struggling with the grip and Maverick (Vinales) was so close to me, but then I felt as the laps went by I could push more and I could drop the laptime every lap by a tenth, so the last five or six laps the speed was incredible.
“Enea (Bastianini) was so close so I had to push more in order to not let him past, but in any case I’m happy because winning four in a row was something exceptional years ago but now I think it is incredible.
“I had to do the whole race with 0.0 or 0.1 (on pit board) apart from one with Enea but the next lap he was close again, I didn’t know how many riders were behind me but I was sure he was close and in the last lap I just tried to do the best possible and I did my best lap time.
“I lost a little in the last two corners trying be more careful, but I’m very happy.
“I knew he (Bastianini) was closing but today I used a different strategy, I wasn’t closing any lines and just focussing on riding to be as fast as possible.
“In some situations this is maybe better because you don’t give the others the possibility to overtake you because you are doing your maximum, so this strategy was the key for me today.”
Bagnaia added that he wasn’t getting carried away with his relentless pursuit of Fabio Quartararo’s series lead – which now sits at 30 having been 44 prior to the San Marino Grand Prix weekend – conceding that the current total is “still a lot.”
“For me 30 points is still a lot so we still need to be focussed race by race and session by session, for the moment I don’t want to think about the future and just want to be smart how we approach each race.”
