MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Championships are about consistency. Casey Stoner used to say that if you look after the wins, then the titles look after themselves. The counterpoint to that is that you can't win every race. So to if you really want to be sure of your championship, you have to grab as many points as possible on the days that you can't win.

That has proven to be difficult in recent years. Since 2022, the main championship contenders have made a specialty of falling off or finishing well down the order. That year, Pecco Bagnaia had four DNFs and finished outside the points in another race, while Fabio Quartararo, the rider Bagnaia beat to the 2022 title, had three DNFs, finished outside the points once, and was all too often outside the top five.

If anything, 2023 was even worse. Bagnaia once again racked up four DNFs and finished outside the points once in a sprint and once in a grand prix. Jorge Martin, who took the title down to the final race at Valencia, also had four DNFs, including in that last race. But where Bagnaia was taking podiums when he couldn't win, Martin was finishing outside the top five, especially in the first part of the season.