MotoGP title battles﷽ in recent years have come to be characterised by their general courteous deme༺anour.

The thr🍷ee-way battle between Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro typified this, with the latter neighbours in Andorra and Quartararo a firm favourite of Espargaro’s son.

Then last year the duel between Ducati stablemates Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin never reached any real fever pitch. Both had the same machinery and the same support from their parent manufactur෴er.

The 2024 title battle is, after ✱11 rounds of 20, shaping up to be the same. At least for now.

Bagnaia retook the championship𓆏 lead with a double victory at the Red Bull Ring, though it only put him five points clear of Martin in the standings.

Martin battled a thumb injury h💃e picked up in a bizarre shower incident ꦛon Friday night, which hindered him a little in the sprint - though not as much as a long lap penalty for not ceding one second when he ran through the Turn 2 chicane early on fighting Bagnaia. Then in the grand prix he simply didn’t have enough to battle with Bagnaia.

“I mean, overall, with everything that happened during the weekend I have to be happy,” said Martin. “But anyway I am frustrated because I feel we are super strong, that nothing is miss🅘ing to win races but still Pecco is doing that result.

“It’s just five points [he has gained in the championship], it’s not that important. The important thing is I make a bꦦad result and it’s a second, so for sure this is important. My moment will come.”

Indeed, he really wasn’t missing much to challenge for victory. The poleman’s average pace across the 28-lap grand prix was a 1m30.288s, with Ba🃏💙gnaia on average only 0.122s quicker over the course of the race.

That did equate to a gap of 3.232s at the chequereꩵd flag. But it was in the finer details where Bagnaia made the bigg🌸est difference.

Bagnaia lapped his factory team Ducati in the 1m29s bracket consecutively from lap two to 14, and again one more time on lap 16, while Martin did so from lap three to 12 befor🐠e dipping into the 1m30s. On fastest laps, Bagnaia managed a 1m29.519s versus a 1mꦓ29.621s from Martin.

Crucially, Bagnaia made the difference in the opening phase𒊎 of the grand prix. After a very brief battle on lap two, Bagnaia emerged with the lead. From lap two to lap eight, Bagnaia’s average pace was 0.066s quicker than Martin’s.

That doesn’t sound like much, but the 0.395s gap it gave Bagnaia at the end of lap eight proved to be pivotal in allowing the reigning world🙈 champio🔜n to control the race.

Bagnaia then eked away from Martin, his strong early pace covering any problems he faced late on with traction as his rear medium tyre reached the end of its life. With tyre pressures a concern at Austria, track position is more🌜 vital at the Red Bull Ring than most venues.

It was fine margins that helped💝 Bagnaia to victory, but they were noted by Martin, who said: “I think we need to change the strategy a bit. He, as you can see, has really good confidence at the beginning of the race with the full tank and he is able to keep that first pos♔ition.

“I think after three, four laps, if you are first you have 90% of the win done. So, afterwards I tried to fight back at the end when my front tyre was refreshed a bit, but i🎉t was impossible to﷽ close that big gap.”

Though in recent rounds Bagnaia has featured much more prominently at the top of the standings on Fridays, for much of his reign as champi✅on he has tended to work for the race in those opening pra🅺ctice sessions. In Austria, that work on a full fuel load was at its most evident.

“I worked a lot to have this kind of feeling at the start with a full fuel tank,”ಌ Bagnaia said after the grand prix.

“We always ride with the full fuel tank and sometimes it’s worse, but sometimes it helps because in the race we are already pre꧃pared. It wasn’t easy, it’s always very difficult in this track to overtake because if you brake one metre later you are wide. So, it was very importꦿant to be calm and not do a stupid manoeuvre.”

Bagnaia’s Austrian GP win equals him with 1993 500cc world champion Kevin Schwantz’s haul of 25 premier class victories. He has seve🎃n for the season now, matching what he achieved across all of 2023, though the championship battle remains tight.

'Why do I have to be angry?'

While 🎀not much came of their brief on-track battle, it did lead to a question in the post-race press conference on Sunda𝓀y on how the pair have so far managed to keep their relationship strong despite clearly being MotoGP’s top two competitors right now.

“It’s not just this year, [also] last year,” Martin replied. “We still have a ♐lot of years to fight against each other.

“I think if I give my best and he’s better🍨 than me, wꦍhy do I have to be angry at him? It’s just respect.

“If everything is just respectful out and on the track, I’m even happy for him for his victory𓆏 and I will hope this relationship keeps like this all of our lives.”

Bagnaia added: “When there is respect, it’s peace outside and a war inside of the traꦛck. But also it’s always with respect. We’ve known each other from a very long time ago, and I never understood riders who change their relationships during a championship.

“It’s true when you are fighting for the same objective you change [your relationship] a bit. But the respect always has to be there and it looks like it’s still remaining the same situation as last y𝔍ear,🍬 or from when we were younger.”

Bagnaia’s comment is a little odd given who his mentor is, and how his relationship with riders that chall🐠𓂃enged him changed.

Nevertheless, Bagnai▨a has generally led with respect when he has been involved in incidents and that’s unlikely to change as the stakes of the 2024 campaign heighten.

But can the pair’s relationship really remain harmonious if the championshiꦅp battle remains so close?

There are se🍌veral elements to consider. The first of which is the changing dynamic between Martin and Ducati. While the𒐪 latter remains publicly committed to supporting both, Martin’s impending exit to Aprilia makes that seem unlikely.

The competitiveness of the Aprilia right now - who struggled to a best of seventh with Maverick Vinales in Austria, though Aleix Espargaro did manage a sprint podium - doesn’t suggest it is anywhere near a title challenge right now. Martin, therefore, must start to feel at some point in♒ the next few months that 2024 is his best chance at a championship for the foreseeable.

That will certainly change the way ꧑he races Bagnaia if the ba🎃ttle remains tight between them.

But from Bagnaia’s perspective, there is almost no need for him to get wrapped up in any personal confrontation with the Pramac rider. He’s got the thing Martin doesn’t, which𝐆 is a factory Ducati seat beyond this year, and Austria proved he is still the #1 - even if not by much.

So, will this remain a ‘friendly’ title battle? Most probably, but only becaꦍuse Martin has more to lose than 🌃Bagnaia…