After being beaten by Martin again Francesco Bagnaia stated he 'will always be clean' in the title fight.
Francesco Bagnaia qualified on pole for the Thai Grand Prix as he aimed to secure crucial points. However, in the Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon Bagnaia was beaten by Jorge Martin again.
The Italian rider finished in third place with his Spanish rival in second place. Bagnaia is now 22 points behind Martin with five races left in the 2024 season. After the Thai Grand Prix Sprint Race Bagnaia admitted he needs to improve if he wants to retain his title.
"It is not ideal because we are in a situation where we need to gain points," Bagnaia said. "Today Jorge (Martin) did a good job, I was struggling more compared to the other sessions. We need to check on the data to see what happened. I was losing a bit of time in the first sector and in turn one but in the next two sectors I felt much better. We will try to improve for tomorrow, to understand what happened and to try to solve the problem."
Bagnaia was ahead of Martin until the #89 launched an attack on the #1 at Turn Seven, a corner you would not expect a rival to pass.
"I was expecting it because I was slow in corner six," Bagnaia explained. "The only thing is those corners are not easy to overtake and we could see that he went onto the green. To close the line is not that easy if you don't want the guy on the outside to hit you.
"From that point on I just pushed hard to close the gap to him and we were on the limit. I saw Jorge touch the green four times because we were on the limit. It was not an easy pace today, we have to consider for tomorrow what to do with the rear tyre. Today the soft was quite good at this pace and we have to see for tomorrow if the hard can be better."
'Honestly, I counted four but maybe I was wrong' - Bagnaia said.
There was drama during the Sprint Race as Martin appeared to exceed track limits multiple times. Bagnaia believed that he witnessed Martin exceed track limits four times, enough times for a long lap penalty. However, the penalty never came as it was decided Martin only exceeded track limits twice.
"Honestly, I counted four but maybe I was wrong," Bagnaia admitted. "The Long Lap didn't arrive because maybe he only touched it twice. But in any case, I don't have to keep on relying on penalties I have to improve my performance and to do better."
The two-time MotoGP Champion was asked what he needs to do in the remaining five races to reclaim his crown. Bagnaia explained he needs to be in front of Martin but will never use a 'sh*t manoeuvre' to beat Martin.
Bagnaia said: "What I have to do is to be in front of him and put a bit of pressure on him with my results. I will never do a sh*t manoeuvre, I will always be clean like I have always been and try to win in that way.
"I know in some circumstances it is better to be more aggressive but I always rather like this. Five races are still a long way to go and with Jorge (Martin) we know the performance he is having we need to keep thinking of the Championship."