either side of the most recent Grand Prix in Italy two weeks ago is that while the shake-up of the grid for 2025 provides storylines everywhere you look, there’s 65 per cent of the 2024 season still to race.
What happened next – the likely promotion to be Bagnaia’s teammate for 2025 being taken away by Ducati in favour of Marc Marquez – enraged Martin to such a degree that he’d. Walking away from the best bike on the grid after being overlooked twice in three years – he finished second to Bastianini in a two-horse race to replace Miller as Bagnaia’s teammate at the end of 2022 – was clearly his tipping point.
You can foresee Martin getting next-to no new and improved parts for his Desmosedici the rest of the way, even more so with Pramac mulling a move to switch to Yamaha machinery for 2025. He’ll have to make do largely with what he has, which – so far – has been good enough. Bagnaia clearly has the bike to do it – Ducati has won all but one Grand Prix this season and 23 of 27 dating back to the beginning of 2023 – and he’s proven he can win a title two different ways, mowing down a huge deficit to Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in 2022, and cooly playing the role of hunted rather than hunter against Martin last season.
That trio – along with incumbent Brad Binder – form a formidable foursome to take on the best Borgo Panigale has to offer in 2025. But what of the rest of 2024?as a Moto3 and Moto2 champion before exiting his teens, and already has a pair of Grand Prix podiums to his name to sit inside the top five of the standings. But – unlike Binder, Bastianini and Vinales – he’s not a Grand Prix winner, yet.