Alex Marquez prediction is music to the ears of Pecco Bagnaia

Alex Marquez is adamant that Francesco Bagnaia is “really close” to making the breakthrough he needs, despite another frustrating MotoGP weekend in Austria.

While the Gresini rider finished second to brother Marc Marquez in the Red Bull Ring Sprint, fellow front-row qualifier Bagnaia retired with rear tyre issues.

Alex then braced himself to lose big points to Bagnaia in the grand prix, due to a long lap penalty carried over from Brno.

Although the sanction dropped Marquez to tenth, Bagnaia fared little better, fading from second to eighth place.

Alex thus gained seven points on the double champion in Austria, extending his advantage in the battle for title runner-up to 55 points.

Reflecting on Bagnaia’s situation, Alex drew on his own past struggles with a GP23:

“It happened to me in the past. I arrived to one point where I said, ‘What do I need to do better? What do I need to change?’ And I didn't know.

“But I think he's there. I think it's a matter of feeling, or a matter of completing a weekend in a proper way, or a win. I think that will change the click on his character and all that.

“So I think he's really close, because this weekend he was super fast in all the sessions.

“He's really close to making that click. And I always say, Pecco’s a really great champion. I consider him a real champion, and he will be, I think, there from now until the end.

“He just needs to complete that perfect weekend to make that step and to believe in himself.”

'Marc Marquez is on another level right now'

Meanwhile, Marc Marquez extended his win streak to 12 in a row with his first-ever Red Bull Ring wins and now holds a commanding 142-point lead in the championship.

“Marc is on another level right now. Compared to the beginning of the season he did another step on the riding style,” Alex said.

“We had that advantage at the beginning of the year when we had a regular pre-season, I would say.

“But now they have things under control and are introducing [updates], they have an advantage again.”

Alex estimated that without his long lap penalty he could have finished fourth on Sunday, when rookie team-mate Fermin Aldeguer stunned with second place.

“I preferred to just finish the race, take it easy and not make another mistake,” explained Alex, who endured his first pointless weekend of the season at the previous Brno round.