My reading is that as the main Ducati test rider he has a close relationship with the lead factory Ducati rider in Bagnaia and doesn’t want to see a newcomer/interloper like MM given any preferment, and particularly not any fruits of his/Pirro’s own labours, perhaps being of the view he did the work on Bagnaia’s behalf rather than to help MM, and his view would appear to be that as far as he is concerned if MM is to win he can do so on old equipment as Di Giannantonio did last season.
If we are to hold him to the same standard as far as logic is concerned that we do on this forum what he says doesn’t make sense, if even the 2024 bike isn’t substantively better than the 2023 bike then an upgraded 2023 bike shouldn’t be a problem either, and if Bagnaia simply flat out outrode MM then he should be able to do so again.
Great credit has rightly been given to Bagnaia even by strong MM partisans for his first lap and the lap on which he set the lap record near the end of the race on worn tyres, both examples of brilliant riding and indeed major reasons he won the race. But another major reason he won was because MM’s pass didn’t stick, which as MM said post race was when he was going to win the race if he was going to do so. I don’t see that move as riding brilliance, just a determination not to be passed by MM which extended to a preference for both of them crashing out over being successfully passed. I don’t recall any moves from MM while he was stealing the 2015 title from Valentino at Sepang 2015 quite as drastic as that one, and I doubt MM would have attracted anything except trenchant criticism for a similar move.
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