The 2023 MotoGP season came down to a dramatic finale at the Valencia Grand Prix, with Francesco Bagnaia emerging as world champion.
The gap between Bagnaia and Jorge Martin was 21 points coming into the weekend, and only 14 by the start of the grand prix. But a crash for Martin ended his hopes and seemingly those of his hopes of stepping up to the factory team. Bagnaia didn’t need to, but he won his seventh grand prix of the season to become the first Ducati rider ever to win back-to-back titles.
Insight: The key moments in Bagnaia’s 2023 MotoGP title defence
Marc Marquez was caught up in the crash that ended Martin’s championship, but it didn’t dampen his farewell weekend with Honda having achieved a sprint podium on the Saturday. However Marquez earned the ire of Marco Bezzecchi after their lap one clash, which led to the raging VR46 rider calling at Marquez the “dirtiest rider” to set up a bit of an intra-Ducati rivalry going into 2024 when the eight-time world champion joins Gresini.
The dreaded tyre pressure rules didn’t impact the championship, but it did rob Fabio Di Giannantonio of a hard-earned podium. He’s secured his MotoGP future at least, replacing Honda-bound Luca Marini at VR46.
Elsewhere, the RNF team was rejected from the 2024 grid by Dorna owing to financial problems bringing disrepute to the championship by title partner and the team’s majority owner CryptoDATA. But this has paved the way for a new entity to join from the world of four wheels.
In a packed final weekend of the year, here are 10 things we learned from the 2023 MotoGP Valencia GP.
1. Bagnaia showed his true champion’s credentials in showdown
Francesco Bagnaia may claim that the pressure he felt last year in his maiden title success was worse than this year, despite having just one race to think about and a 23-point buffer over Fabio Quartararo.
But the Valencia finale in 2023 came with much more jeopardy. Leading into the round by 21 points, another average sprint performance next to Jorge Martin’s supreme win cut the gap down to 14 for the grand prix.
Bagnaia may only have needed fifth to win the championship, but that was far from assured on a grid full of riders with podium potential – one of whom (more on him later) came through from 11th to almost win.
Promoted to pole by a Maverick Vinales penalty, Bagnaia seized the holeshot but Martin leapt up to second. Clearly the faster of the two, the Pramac rider made a critical error at Turn 1 on lap three when he got sucked into the slipstream and ran off.
Martin’s collision with Marc Marquez on lap six ensured the championship to Bagnaia. But it can be argued the factory Ducati rider somewhat goaded Martin into the aggression that cost him dearly. In the first half of the season, Bagnaia outscored Martin by 62 points after the first 10 rounds while in the final 10, Martin only outscored Bagnaia by 23.
“I couldn't be happy with a second position in the championship,” Bagnaia said afterwards, “because a number one plate means that you need to demonstrate that you are the number one and I think we did everything perfect to be considered the number ones.”
Sure enough, when it mattered most, Bagnaia stood up as the better rider. LD
2. Martin implosion showed the weaknesses he needs to arrest in 2024
Martin is 100% correct when he repeatedly stated over the Valencia round that from the San Marino GP onwards, he has been the fastest of the two title challengers. But several key mistakes unravelled his title challenge.
His crash while leading comfortably in Indonesia was at least five points that went begging. In Australia, his decision to go with the wrong rear tyre cost him another nine points to Bagnaia. Even with the tyre woes of Qatar, that extra 13 points would have meant his gap trailing into the grand prix in Valencia after his sprint win would have been just one.
And in a head-to-head for glory, Martin would have come out on top. Running off at Turn 1 while trailing Bagnaia’s slipstream was an error not totally of his own making. But his admittedly impatient charge to get back to Bagnaia which resulted in his tangle with Marc Marquez and the ending of his championship hopes was.
The fact he was 14 points adrift of Bagnaia coming into the grand prix finale means Martin felt afterwards that he “didn’t lose” the title as his chances were slim. Now he’s learned what it means to fight for a championship, next year he has to show this. LD
3. Tyre pressure rule mercifully stays out of title result…
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro didn’t mince his words when the subject of the tyre pressure rules potentially deciding the championship was brought up.
“If one penalty decides the championship, the image for the championship is worse than what I did to Morbidelli,” he said, referencing his slap of the Yamaha rider in Qatar.
This comment came after penalties were awarded for the first time a sprint for Morbidelli and Luca Marini breaking the tyre pressure rule. Given it’s not something the rider has any control over, and with the cold temperatures of Valencia this time of year, a disaster was potentially on the horizon for the grand prix with both Bagnaia and Martin carrying warnings already for breaking this rule.
Mercifully, Bagnaia’s pressures were fine and the crash for Martin meant even if the world champion was out with the rule, it wouldn’t have mattered. But the fact it was a major talking point of the championship decider shows how damaging this rule is for MotoGP even without it affecting results. LD
4. But it robbed a worthy podium finisher and left egg on MotoGP’s face
Minutes after Fabio Di Giannantonio departed the post-race press conference, triumphant in his second consecutive grand prix podium, it was taken away from him courtesy of a three-second tyre pressure penalty. Di Giannantonio was the first real casualty of the controversial regulation, which came into effect at this year’s British Grand Prix.
For the 2023 season, a new minimum front and rear tyre pressure was implemented, which riders had to keep within for 50% of grands prix and 30% of sprints. From the outset, riders were unhappy at the forced minimum front pressure being set at 1.88 bar (27.26psi), as it left them little margin to play with before the front became harder to manage once it went above 2.0 bar (29psi).
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was the first to receive a warning for running underneath the minimum tyre pressures at the Catalan GP, while team-mate Aleix Espargaro was the first to receive a three-second penalty, handed out for a second offence in Thailand. But until Sunday’s race, no rider had lost a podium because of it.
A worthy podium finisher, Di Giannantonio had started 11th before a valiant charge through the field saw him cross the line just 0.176s behind two-time champion Bagnaia.
The time it took to issue the penalty was the other issue: Bagnaia saw the chequered flag at 3.45pm, and the press conference did not start until 5pm. It was another 15 minutes until Di Giannantonio’s penalty was confirmed, a full 90 minutes after the race ended. Surely, with an automated system, the process should be quick enough to sort any penalties before the post-race press conference?
Although it was a relief that tyre pressures didn’t decide the championship result, as some had feared it might, to see the Gresini rider lose a hard-earned second-place finish to the rule felt cruel. With many riders calling for a rethink, perhaps this incident could prompt a second look at the impact this rule could have in 2025 – and avoid embarrassing the championship. MW
5. Marquez ‘fought like a champion’ in Honda farewell
Marc Marquez’s Honda farewell – at least for now, as he continues to say – was a mixed affair. It started with a fine ride to the podium in the sprint, something he said was the perfect way to repay the team that gave him his chance in MotoGP and with whom he won six world titles.
The grand prix didn’t go to plan. A lap one tangle with Marco Bezzecchi (more on that later) gave way to a race-ending crash with Martin, after the Pramac rider collided with him at Turn 4 on lap six while battling over fifth.
Mercifully escaping serious injury after a heavy fall, Marquez came away from his final Honda MotoGP weekend with his head held high and going down swinging.
“We didn’t finish in a good way or in the way I would like our relationship with Honda, because honestly speaking I approached the weekend like I was fighting for the championship,” Marquez said.
“I was fully concentrated all the laps, all the races, all the practices. Yesterday we achieved the podium. Today, I don’t like to say it, but the podium was possible because the pace was there and I felt strong and I was managing the tyres.” LD
6. Marini’s factory Honda step makes sense in the long run
While stepping away from the best bike on the grid might seem like an odd move in the short-term, Marini’s move to Honda announced on Monday enables his dreams of developing a factory bike – a chance he was unlikely to get given the factory Ducati seat logjam.
With two-time champion Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini at the factory team, 2023 runner-up Jorge Martin and new arrival Franco Morbidelli at Pramac, three-time GP winner Marco Bezzecchi at VR46 and the Marquez brothers at Gresini, Marini – the only Ducati rider not to win a race this season - was unlikely to see himself on the red bike any time soon.
Speaking at Sepang, Marini admitted that going to a factory team was a “completely different thing” from being a satellite rider, and would be “something really incredible”.
When asked by Autosport if it made sense moving to Honda from a competitive standpoint, he replied: “You have the best bike, but going in a factory team and develop your own bike and talk with the engineers and follow a direction – your direction – everybody together, is a completely different thing.
“I know that my package now is fantastic, the team is working very well, and Ducati is a fantastic bike performing well every time in every situation, every condition. But also, as a rider, I have dreams to achieve and to ride and work for a factory team is something really incredible, in my opinion. But it needs to be the correct project, the correct situation.”
He appears to have now found that correct project at Honda, with a two-year deal seemingly better than that offered to other riders considered for the ride. Stepping out from his brother Valentino Rossi’s team is a way for Marini to show that he is not simply protected by the nine-time world champion, and reignites Rossi’s links to the Japanese marque 20 years after his departure from the brand he won the first of his three MotoGP titles with. MW
7. Bezzecchi rage at Marquez hints at stable clash in 2024
The collision between Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi on lap one of the grand prix wasn’t replayed much on the world feed during the broadcast. It was investigated by the stewards, but deemed a racing incident.
It made little difference to Marquez’s grand prix, ultimately, but Bezzecchi was not a happy chap when he came to speak to the media – beer in hand – about his afternoon. He felt Marquez is always getting away with incidents like this and that the stewards, nor Dorna Sports’ sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta, would not entertain speaking with the Italian.
When asked if he felt Marquez got special treatment from the stewards, he said: “Yes, for sure. They never make nothing to him, because it’s Marquez, and he’s the dirtiest rider.”
Marquez said he “would not lose time” thinking about Bezzecchi. But given they will be on the same bike next year and with the expectation of the Ducati stable that you don’t go over the limit with those on Desmosedicis, this tiff threatens to rumble on into 2024.
“For sure he won’t [race fairly with other Ducatis], but I will do the same,” Bezzecchi added. “I don’t care.” LD
8. Di Giannantonio gets his reprieve
Despite having had his second podium of the season taken away on Sunday, Di Giannantonio has proved himself a worthy contender in the second half of 2023.
He had a tough start to the year, managing just five top 10 finishes in the first 11 rounds, but his form has consistently improved since India. He took eighth place in Japan before finishing fourth in Indonesia and scoring his maiden podium in Australia at Philip Island. A first win came in Qatar, followed by his third podium visit of the year in Valencia - until the belated penalty call.
Despite this, it had seemed possible that Di Giannantonio might find himself without a ride next year, with rumours that the VR46 seat vacated by Marini could be taken by Moto2 sensation Fermin Aldeguer. Even Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti told motogp.com it was “unacceptable” that Di Giannantonio could be left without a ride.
But VR46 saved the day, announcing on Monday that it had opted to sign the Italian for a season alongside Bezzecchi and giving him one more year to prove his worth.
It is a gamble which should pay off. Having finished 20th in his rookie season in 2022 with 24 points and a best race finish of eighth, Di Giannantonio improved to 12th this season. If he can continue his strong upward curve, VR46's new signing could prove to be one of the stronger satellite contenders in 2024. MW
9. Michelin finds no manufacturing fault in Martin’s Qatar tyre
Martin had a torrid Qatar Grand Prix, struggling to a season-worst 10th in the penultimate race of the season having battled with a lack of rear grip from the off. After title rival Bagnaia finished second to take a 21-point lead into the Valencia finale, the Pramac rider said Michelin had ‘stolen’ his championship with its problematic rear tyre.
He rowed back slightly on his criticism a little, but on Thursday in Valencia, he said there had been no answers from Michelin yet over what went wrong.
On Friday, Michelin motorsport boss Piero Taramasso said initial analysis of the tyre showed no manufacturer errors. Though it reasoned that further work was still needed to determine what went wrong, Michelin stressed there was “no quality problem” in the hard compound tyre.
The data the manufacturer has at its disposal did reveal that Martin’s “pressures were higher compared to all other riders front and rear” which could be explained by the Spaniard pushing hard to make up ground from his poor start.
Taramasso said: “We saw different things but at this moment we don’t have a clear answer. We still have a different hypothesis. We will do some work and analysis and we will come back to you, to the team if we see something more.” MW
10. RNF collapses as Trackhouse gets set to take over
Over the Valencia weekend, the future of the RNF team was cast in doubt as reports emerged about a takeover by NASCAR squad Trackhouse and team boss Razlan Razali being fired.
RNF – or, to be more accurate, majority owner and title partner CryptoDATA – rubbished all of this. Then on Monday Dorna announced that it was rejecting RNF for the 2024 season, citing “repeated infractions and breaches of the Participation Agreement affecting the public image of MotoGP have obliged this decision”.
CryptoDATA has taken to social media to threaten Dorna over legal action, which isn’t likely to go anywhere.
Razali has pointed the finger at CryptoDATA for all of this, confirming it had not paid partners – though Aprilia has been squared up. Autosport also learned from a source close to RNF that CryptoDATA had not paid all of what was agreed to Dorna for sponsoring the Austrian GP.
Autosport then learned from a source close to Aprilia that Trackhouse will join the MotoGP grid next season, taking RNF’s grid slots but assimilating the team, while closer technical ties will be formed with Aprilia.
It’s a story that has completely overshadowed the events of the 2023 title decider in many ways, while it also brings to an end a team that – though struggled under its new guise as RNF across 2022 and 2023 – did bring Quartararo to MotoGP under the Sepang Racing Team banner and fought for the 2020 title with Morbidelli. LD
