Bagnaia questioned over Martin fears as his championship lead is cut again

Bagnaia’s lead at the top of the championship was reduced to 33 points after Martin won the sprint race at the Indian MotoGP.

Martin has now won three races in a row to bring himself back into serious title contention.

Reigning champion Bagnaia was asked about Martin’s form, and said: “Like always, when a rival finds momentum. He has found a solution within himself to push.

“We will have, again, the same possibility to fight for a win.

“We know perfectly that we are one of the strongest.”

Bagnaia believes his terrifying incident at the Catalan MotoGP, where he highsided and was then struck by Brad Binder, is part of the reason for conceding momentum.

“But we had the incident in Barcelona, which was big,” he said.

“Right now, Jorge is doing a good job.

“Three weekends that we’ve lost points.

“We have to be calm. To understand the situation, and to not be frustrated.

“I didn’t have the speed of Martin [on Saturday]. Consider the consistency, the championship is long and we know our potential.”

Bagnaia finished second in the sprint race behind Martin.

“Happy overall with the result. Bez and Martin were too fast,” he said,

“We have to find a solution, we already know where the problem is.”

Martin, however, insisted he wasn’t even riding to the limit.

“I started super good, I put a great pace on the track,” Martin said.

“I tried to be smooth and not make mistakes, and to understand the tyres.

“We got good information for [Sunday].

“I’m proud of my team. So happy and confident for tomorrow.

“I didn’t need to be 100% today, I tried to conserve a bit. I was trying to understand the conditions.

“[The title fight] is open. I feel better than I’m used to feeling in the middle of the season.”