> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Verstappen comparison shows how far MotoGP leader has come - URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/verstappen-comparison-shows-how-far-motogp-leader-has-come/ - Published: 2023-08-21T08:01:34.000Z - Updated: 2023-09-15T16:43:45.000Z - Description: There’s been a certain inevitability about runaway points leader Pecco Bagnaia’s latest MotoGP successes. It’s little surprise then that he’s now being compared to F1’s own dominator Max Verstappen – however keen he is not to embrace that tag - Author: Valentin Khorounzhiy - Tags: MotoGP, #image-center-center Pecco Bagnaia’s MotoGP rival Fabio Quartararo likening the Italian’s current form to Max Verstappen’s domination of Formula 1 is certainly somewhat hyperbolic – yet indicative of how much more complete the reigning champion has appeared as of late. An Austrian Grand Prix double – a lights-to-flag win in the sprint by 2.056s and another lights-to-flag win in the main race by 5.191s – has given the imperious Bagnaia a 62-point lead in the championship. Given there is still a maximum of 370 points up for grabs this season, Bagnaia’s position is nowhere near as comfortable as Verstappen’s – who has won eight grands prix on the trot and leads by 125 points. His lead is now 60.7% of the remaining points, compared to 16.8% for Bagnaia. ![Bagnaia 20 Uc541047 High](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2023/08/Bagnaia-_20__UC541047_High.jpeg) However, Quartararo – whose hoped-for title challenge this season collapsed immediately as the 2023 Yamaha was swiftly found lacking – sees a parallel. Asked if anyone can stop Bagnaia this season, Quartararo said: “No. I think he’s a little bit Verstappen now. “Yes, he has the best bike – but you can have the best bike and not do the results. It’s a combination. And it looks like right now the combination he has with the bike, the confidence he has with the bike, when you’re winning-winning-winning, you feel that you are unstoppable. [![](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2023/08/1064322-300x200.jpg)](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/zarco-explains-swapping-motogps-best-bike-for-its-worst/) Zarco explains swapping MotoGP’s best bike for its worst [Read more](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/zarco-explains-swapping-motogps-best-bike-for-its-worst/) “And this is the feeling he has now. He looks easy on the bike, he knows how to use the bike. “So right now I don’t see no one that really can be faster than him.” There is nothing novel in Bagnaia winning and dominating races, nor going on a strong run of form, given this was required for his title last year as he overcame a huge early-season points deficit to Quartararo. Yet there is a certain aura of ‘inevitability’ that has surrounded his latest successes that perhaps wasn’t there before – and it’s likely that which is at the centre of the comparison with Verstappen. ![Bagnaia 15 Uc541043 High](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2023/08/Bagnaia-_15__UC541043_High.jpeg) In Austria, Bagnaia faced potential complications from the [new tyre pressure enforcement rules](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-faces-first-test-of-its-delayed-rules-clampdown/) – which some have expected to hit Ducati harder than other manufacturers – and having two KTMs, famed for lighting-fast starts, lining up close behind him. But an apparent Ducati upgrade that “helped me in the first part of the acceleration” meant he led into Turn 1 both times, and both times he never looked under serious threat of losing the lead after that. On Sunday, Brad Binder managed to stay within range – just two or three tenths behind – for several laps to begin with. “But from lap five-six I started to realise, ‘jeez, he’s really looking after his rear tyre – and I might run into a bit of bother later in the race’.” [![](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2023/08/SI202308200310-300x200.jpg)](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-fears-motogps-risking-too-late-course-correction/) Marquez warns MotoGP risks ‘too late’ course correction [Read more](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-fears-motogps-risking-too-late-course-correction/) In those first laps, as close as Binder was, an overtake never looked on. And soon the battle for victory was over. Bagnaia was half a second clear after 10 laps, then 3.2s clear after 20. If sprints are counted as races – and that is emphatically what they are – it means Bagnaia, once known as being unreliable when it comes to delivering consistent results, has finished 10 in a row. One of them, the Silverstone sprint, was admittedly a points-less mess in mixed conditions. But the nine others have all yielded first or second place. Bagnaia, for his part, told Italian publication GPOne that he was [“absolutely not” the Verstappen of MotoGP](https://www.gpone.com/en/2023/08/20/motogp/bagnaia-the-rider-makes-the-difference-im-not-the-verstappen-of-motogp.html?ref=the-race.com). ![Bagnaia 24 Uc541050 High](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2023/08/Bagnaia-_24__UC541050_High.jpeg) But he’s certainly as close as ever to that status – and his nearest championship rival Jorge Martin, whose Sunday in Austria was compromised by both lap deletions in qualifying and a long lap penalty after his role in triggering a multi-bike sprint crash, knows time is running out to change the course of the 2023 title race. “I feel I was the only one that maybe could put some pressure on him… maybe not for the win \[but early on\], because he was pretty fast at the end. I feel like I was the only one who could be closer,” said Martin. “I was losing a little bit on corner nine, but the rest I was really close or faster than him. “Hopefully we can put together a good qualifying in Montmelo \[Barcelona\], because it will be key to battle for this championship. If not… we will then have to fight for second.”