At the start of the month, Bagnaia had appeared on course to score back-to-back titles, having arrived in Barcelona with a 62-point lead following his fifth victory of the season in Austria.
But after extending that advantage even further in the Barcelona sprint, Bagnaia suffered a major highside at the start of the Catalan GP that knocked him out of the race and compromised his physical condition for the next round at Misano.
