Francesco Bagnaia is finally back to interviews with a smile: the radical changes made ahead of the Sprint seem to have paid off at last
A ninth place on paper doesn’t look like much, but Pecco has clearly found more confidence with his GP25. He even spoke of “overfeeling”, smiling and finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Here’s what Bagnaia told Sky Sport: “Penalty? The race went that way because there are rules to respect, and unfortunately I couldn’t comply. I was catching the group ahead, and the overfeeling I finally had led me to brake too late. I ran wide, tried to slow down as much as possible because I had Binder right behind me, but he was already there. I thought I’d lost a second, but in reality it was just eight-tenths, and they gave me the long lap.
It’s a shame because I was lapping fast, I felt good, and above all after yesterday’s changes I feel in control of my bike again. That makes me really happy. My race pace, whenever I could push, was podium-worthy. We have to restart from here, stay calm and keep working in this direction.
I don’t want to say we’re there yet, but being able to force and stay within four-tenths of the riders ahead is a big step forward compared to the start of the season. Corner entry and speed when following others have improved a lot, and this change will bring us results.
Already yesterday in the Sprint I had started to feel better, even though I couldn’t fully exploit the potential. Today I managed it a bit more: the pace was good, I could stay with a faster group, and I saw positive differences. When you’ve been riding the same bike for eight months, it’s tough to adapt to a different setup, but we decided to change here because the situation was complicated and far from what we can achieve. It was right to try, and I’m happy with the choice.”
Bagnaia: “Warm-up problems? We partly went back”
Then, on the issues in warm-up, Pecco added: “We would have liked to try other things, but for the race we partly went back. In the end, it still worked out well. Until a few races ago, even if I struggled, I was still bringing home podiums, wins and poles. That’s why we hadn’t needed to shake things up too much. But in recent weekends I’ve suffered a lot, and here I’d never been in the top ten. A big change was needed, not millimeters but centimeters. We did it, and fortunately the direction was right. It gave me something extra, and I’m satisfied.”
Photo: Ducati Corse
