The world champion crashed out of the lead of the Americas GP two weeks ago and fell from second in the wet Argentina GP prior to that.
This raised doubts about his form after he suffered five DNFs in 2022 and was forced to recover a 91-point deficit to win the championship.
He batted away questions about pressure prior to the Spanish GP weekend and in parc ferme after beating Brad Binder to victory in the main grand prix on Sunday, Bagnaia pointed to the number one plate on his Ducati in front of the cameras.
Explaining that he did this “for my ego”, Bagnaia said when asked if he did this as a message to his doubters: “Sincerely, it was more for me, for my ego because it’s always too easy to criticise from outside and you don’t know from the inside what happened.
“So, I think this race is a race from the number one and I’m very happy to respond to COTA with a win. So, it’s great.”
Source: Autosport