Francesco Bagnaia's series of collisions must give him something to think about!

Francesco Bagnaia's ability is beyond question. When he feels comfortable on his Ducati, it is almost impossible for the competition to get past him. But the two-time MotoGP world champion also has a clear weakness: the one-on-one battle. However, it is not in the sense that Bagnaia always loses the direct duel. Rather, he often behaves in such situations in such a way that the situation ends in a crash for both parties. Not always the best strategy.

Constant collisions for Francesco Bagnaia

In the last 28 race weekends alone, Francesco Bagnaia has been eliminated four times after collisions with other drivers. In 2023, he clashed with Maverick Vinales on the track at Le Mans, and after the fall, the two rivals were still at each other's throats in the gravel trap. In this year's Portuguese Grand Prix, he collided with Marc Marquez, which ended in crashes for both drivers. In Jerez, Bagnaia then went down after contact with Brad Binder and Marco Bezzecchi. And on Sunday, he finally crashed violently together with Alex Marquez.

Just to be clear: Bagnaia is not solely to blame for any of these collisions. In individual cases, such as the three-way crash in Jerez, he can actually be blamed relatively little. And finally, the collision on Sunday in Aragon was also a classic racing accident. The stewards determined that despite hearing from the pilots, reviewing all the images and evaluating the motorcycle data, no rider could be clearly identified as the cause of the accident. The logical consequence: “No further action.” No penalties either.

Francesco Bagnaia takes unnecessary risks

Bagnaia was certainly not solely responsible for the collision, but he could have prevented it on his own. Yes, Alex Marquez had gone wide in the previous corner and should have been more careful when returning to the racing line. But Bagnaia should also have expected that this could lead to a dangerous maneuver for him and would have been better advised not to take full risks and race past Marquez on the outside lane.

There have already been collisions with Francesco Bagnaia as the party involved in the accident, and the elbows that were outstretched made sense for him. For example, in the crash with Marquez's older brother Marc in Portimao. Back then, in the second Grand Prix of the year, the number 93 rider was still a force to be reckoned with in the World Championship fight. In the direct duel between Marquez and Bagnaia on the track, more than just a few World Championship points are at stake. At that moment, Bagnaia drew a clear line against the newcomer in the Ducati camp: “I'm still the boss here!”

Despite superior pace: Francesco Bagnaia shows no patience

But back to Sunday in Aragon: Bagnaia had no reason to rush into his work. On every lap he had overtaken Pedro Acosta, who had previously been between him and Alex Marquez, and was faster than Marquez on every lap up until the collision. In seven laps he had eliminated a deficit of 2.395 seconds – a pace advantage of significantly more than three tenths of a second per lap. Bagnaia could not have failed to notice that Alex Marquez was in massive difficulties at this stage of the race. At the time of the collision he would have had more than five laps left to overtake his opponent. This was probably not too difficult an exercise for the world champion, who was able to concentrate fully on Marquez at this stage. Bagnaia had already clearly left Acosta behind him and Jorge Martin in second place was long out of reach anyway.

“He was so fast! He could have overtaken me at another moment,” Alex Marquez analyzed afterwards. I can only agree with this view. Bagnaia can blame the Gresini driver for the collision – and he may even be right to do so – but in the end he has zero points in the drivers' championship. His opponent Marquez was able to take a big risk in this situation, for him it was just a podium finish at his home race. But Bagnaia is fighting for the world championship and has lost 16 points and won nothing due to an unnecessary collision. This overconfidence could cost Bagnaia dearly in the world championship fight.

Now it's your turn! Do you agree with our analysis of Francesco Bagnaia's tackling behavior or do you think Markus is on the wrong track here? Let us know in the comments.