‘Disappointed’ Martin: ‘I tried to put pressure on Pecco’

Instead, he spent most of the 20-laps watching helplessly as Bagnaia’s factory Ducati disappeared into the distance.

Martin briefly led the field into Turn 1 but ran wide and was passed by the factory Ducatis of Bagnaia and team-mate Enea Bastianini, plus Gresini’s Sprint winner Alex Marquez.

With Bastianini and Marquez edging away up front, Martin was at least on the rear wheel of Bagnaia. Martin, who began the race just 11 points behind the reigning champion, then attacked at Turn 14 on lap 3 and turn 4 on lap 4.

But each time Bagnaia repassed him firmly on the exit and Martin then remained strangely subdued in fourth for the remainder of the race, dropping every further back.

“After six laps I started to lose ground with Pecco,” Martin told MotoGP.com. “It was strange because I tried to push and to put some pressure on him, so maybe he made a mistake, but at some point I started to be close to a crash.

“It's not what I wanted for sure, but I decided to close the throttle just to finish, it's the maximum I could do.”

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All of which means he heads into Qatar next weekend now trailing Bagnaia by 14 points.

“I’m a bit disappointed. I thought I was able to recover some points today. I was feeling great at the beginning of the race,” he said.

“I had to be happy with that P4. It’s not what I expected today. I expected to fight for at least the podium, or beat Pecco. But it is what it is and let's move on to the next one.”

With 74 points still available, the title fight remains well and truly alive, especially with Martin having proven speed in Qatar.

“I really like Qatar. I did two pole positions in the last two seasons and I did also a podium in my second race in MotoGP. So I'm really looking forward to it,” he said.

“We have to understand the new asphalt. Let's see with the tyres. But for sure it's a track where I am super fast.”

One positive for Martin, who hinted that his Buriram tyre pressure warning meant he had to start with higher tyre pressures at Sepang, which may have contributed to his lack of feeling in the grand prix, is that Bagnaia has now also used up his one ‘official warning’.