The thrill of who will win the MotoGP World Championship title go on for two more weeks, and everything will be decided in the last Grand Prix of the season, which will take place November 15-17 in Barcelona, after the Valencia circuit suffered damages in the catastrophic cold front.
That is because Francesco Bagnaia won last weekend's race in Malaysia, after a fierce battle between 'Pecco' and Jorge Martín, who came in second but leads the race for the title.
Jorge Martín has 485 points and Bagnaia has 461 points. The difference between them is 24 points and there are still 37 points at stake, so both riders are arithmetically capable of winning the World Championship, despite the clear advantage for the Spaniard.
The Grand Prix consists on two races. The sprint on Saturday awards 12 points to the winner, 9 for the second, 7 for the third and so on down to 1 point for the ninth. The Sunday race awards 25 points for the first, 20 points for the second, 16 points for the third one and so on down to 1 point for the fifteenth.
Baganaia would need for Martín to not score in at least one of the two races. In the best case scenario for the Italian, Martín wouldn't score in the sprint and Bagnaia could close the gap to 12 points if he finishes first in the sprint. If that were to happen, Martín would be obligated to finish above Bagnaia in the Sunday race. A tie in points would favour Bagnaia, as he has more victories.
The wind blows in clear favour of Martín, but last weekend race was phenomenal, a true fight between the undisputed leaders of the season. The third and fourth riders in the competition are Marc Márwuez and Bastiniani (369 and 368 points), who will also fight for the third spot in less than two weeks in Barcelona.