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Just the team photo is enough to best represent the double face of the Ducati box once the Thai GP is over: on one side an elated Marc Marquez, on the other a Pecco Bagnaia with a forced smile, just enough to pose for the classic post-race snapshot and then fly to the airport to catch the return flight to Italy.
The first round of the World Championship thus exalted Marc Marquez, who since testing two weeks ago had shown his potential on the GP25. In fact, Thursday's race simulation, an impressive 24 laps under 1'31", represented the first wake-up call ahead of the race weekend, where Marc then asserted his superiority.
Having mentioned the tests, on that occasion Bagnaia was forced to paly catch-up, having to deal with a Ducati with which he never managed to find the necessary confidence. As if that were not enough, Pecco (as you can see HERE) even advanced his doubts about the tires, making it all more complicated.
For his part, Marc Marquez from the beginning of the week had been putting pressure on his rival and diverting it from himself: "The favorite for the race? Absolutely Pecco" - so the #93 told us at the end of the two-day test. And here the Spaniard began to prepare the ground, aware that he had more than the #63, but not wanting to emerge and remain in the background.
The plan put in place by Magic Marc then materialized to perfection over the course of the weekend: pole, Sprint and GP. On the other side of the box Pecco appeared several times nervous and in some ways resigned, as Davide Tardozzi confirmed to us over the weekend. A Bagnaia who was still trying to look for a direction, but without being able to find it, unlike his teammate, serene and able to travel with the wind in his sails.
In the race, the two-time MotoGP world champion realized from the start that he had no chance and as a result tried to cushion the blow. Not a single overtake for him, in a weekend where he even had to give second best to Alex Marquez, who after being escorted to the outside of the track at the start took just a handful of corners to regain his position.
Bagnaia's strained face on the podium and at the end of the GP, however, is mixed with the awareness of Pecco himself, who admitted early on that he had no cards at his disposal against his teammate.
Let's prepare ourselves, because as Gigi Dall'Igna declared, it will happen again to witness GPs in which Magic Marc will make the difference, much more than what we saw in Thailand. What does this mean: that the World Championship is already over? That Bagnaia has no hope? Absolutely not! Pecco will have to stay there, exactly as in Buriram, without getting caught up in a wave of discouragement or frenzy, showing that he has learned the lessons of last year. A strategy that takes our minds back to 2019, remembering the Johnny Rea versus Alvaro Bautista duel.
In the first three rounds of that year, the Northern irish champion picked up enormous gaps from Alvaro, but his strength was consistency, that is, always finishing behind the #19 and taking advantage of the first available misstep of his rival. For Bagnaia it will be a challenge with a very high difficulty coefficient against the worst possible teammate - from the point of view of performance - that he could find. It will need a steady pulse, but above all a clear head and consistency, without ever feeling down in the morale as emerged at times in Buriram.
Forty-two races remain: the battle is just beginning.
