Bagnaia wins, but Martin flies over the world

He cries and beats his hands on his helmet, while the wall and the box explode together with that waving of the checkered flag that greets his third place. Bagnaia won, it's true, and Marquez has already passed, but for Jorge Martin that checkered flag means only one thing: he is the 2024 World Champion.

The Spaniard from Ducati Pramac cries and then laughs. And while he rewrites the history of MotoGP – the first rider to win the title with a satellite team (the last was Rossi, in 2001, but that was still the 500 class) –, he lets himself be overwhelmed by an exaggerated celebration.

"I'm shocked. I'm happy. I can't say how I feel – he shouts –. I did the last laps crying. I almost couldn't drive. I suffered, I fought, I wanted this World Championship at all costs. I have to say thank you to my family, to my girlfriend, Maria, to the team, to Paolo Campinoti (the number one of the Pramac team, ed.), to Gino Borsoi with whom we built this result...".

Martin is World Champion. And he is with an official Ducati. The celebration for the cup is shared also and above all with Gigi Dall'Igna, with Davide Tardozzi, with the CEO of Borgo Panigale, Domenicali. It is a celebration (also) in red, let it be clear, but from tomorrow Ducati will see that number one racing on the windshield of its cousin-rival, on that Aprilia that will light up its 2025 precisely with Jorge.

But this is not the time to talk about the future. About what the MotoGP market has told since Mugello.

"With eight corners to go I reviewed my life – this is the heartfelt story of the Spanish driver –. I thought about my father's sacrifices, the lunches my mother made, my girlfriend. Thanks to the mental work, I concentrated again because the work was not finished".

No, it wasn't over and Martin knew well that a fly would be enough to ruin everything. To erase a magical feat. But absolutely deserved.

He then reveals: "I wanted to let Aleix Espargaro pass to leave him the podium in the last race, but Alex Marquez arrived and I started pushing again. I thank the whole team, Ducati. They let me fight against Pecco. They always had faith in me. They gave me the bike to win the World Championship".

It's time for the party-show, to transform into Martinator. To put on the t-shirt with the number 1 printed in capital letters, to wear that half-face of steel with the bionic eye that is the photo of Terminator. An unbeatable hero and in his own way ruthless, just like Martin is on the track. But not in life.

There is also the hug - a sort of handover - with Pecco Bagnaia after Martin's GP. "It was a beautiful duel, ours. A fair duel", says the Spaniard.

Pecco nods, celebrates his 11th victory this season on the podium of the Gp della Solidarietà and then analyses his 2024 season, which ended 10 points behind the new World Champion. "Jorge - Bagnaia says - was more consistent than me. In the end I won 11 races but I also paid dearly for some of my mistakes, like in England and I was thrown out a couple of times, but Martin deserved the title. Absolutely".

And starting tomorrow it will already be the future, with Bagnaia and Marquez as teammates, the World Champion who will step down from Ducati to join Aprilia and the Pramac team which will become Yamaha.