Despite a penalty on the grid which upset him a lot, Pecco Bagnaia had a very good operation of the weekend at Mugello. Winner of the sprint on Saturday, while Jorge Martín had fallen, the Italian did it again on his home soil this Sunday, with a similar scenario for him. Only fifth on the grid with his sanction, he took an outside line at the first corner and took the lead on the second braking.
Even if his lead over Martín remained small, he was never worried about first place and also took advantage of Enea Bastianini overtaking his rival at the last corner to return to 18 points in the championship. Bagnaia could not hope for a better outcome in his country, and after wearing a helmet in reference to the group Kiss, who sent him a message of support this Sunday.
“The day started off well because I received a message from a legend, who told me that I was probably going to win”laughed Bagnaia at a press conference. “It was incredible. I’m very happy, satisfied, proud. This weekend was fantastic. I had a good start. Yesterday was fantastic and today it was important to lead in the first lap to ride at my own pace. The strategy for the first two turns went perfectly. Doing more was impossible.
Bagnaia did “60% of the race” at the start
Much of Bagnaia’s race was determined by his excellent start. “Overtaking four drivers in a turn and a half is incredible”he noted from the official website of the championship. “I had studied the strategy a bit and it worked perfectly. Normally it never works! This time it does, so I’m very happy.”
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Bagnaia’s strategy was inspired by a Jack Miller overtake last season, and the positions of the different drivers allowed him to do exactly what he had planned: “It’s not a question of risks, it’s more about being in the best possible position at the right time. I decided to move to the outside because last year, Miller overtook me at departure.”
“I just stayed on the outside to be on the inside at Turn 2. I tried to do the same thing but Maverick [Viñales] braked very hard and my strategy was almost ruined. As soon as I saw he was going wide, I tried to cross his path and it was the right decision. Afterwards, I saw that Jorge wasn’t coming out of the first corner strong so I tried to take advantage of that to overtake him in turn 2.”
“I had done 60% of the race”summarized Bagnaia. “From there I started to attack and control the race a little bit.”
Once in the lead, Bagnaia did not have an easy task since his lead over Martín never exceeded eight tenths. His attempts to widen the gap remained unsuccessful and he had to resign himself to a management race.
“It was very difficult to stay very consistent with the tires because every time I tried to do two laps at the same pace, the front tire was moving a lot, there was a lot of movement. I decided to “Using this strategy of attacking one lap and saving myself the next lap worked perfectly so it was a good strategy.”
Francesco Bagnaia wore the colors of Italy this Sunday
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Bagnaia won his third consecutive success at Mugello and sees the public come in greater numbers each year. Seeing the emotion overcome him, he preferred to wait until the end of the race to savor this new victory at home.
“If I thought too much about the fact that they were cheering for me, that they were cheering for us, I would start crying, so it was better not to think about it too much and just enjoy it, [puis] to see all these people. It was a sea of people in front of the podium and honestly, I have never seen anything like it. When you see it’s for you, it’s simply magical. That makes it even more special.”
This weekend allows Bagnaia to move closer to 18 points behind Martín in the championship, and his objective is to dislodge the Spaniard from first place as quickly as possible: “It’s a shame to have lost 12 points in Barcelona because I could have taken 37 points two weeks in a row. In any case, it was important to find this kind of speed and consistency. The next race is in Assen and we will have to do the same thing as last year, we were very successful. I am very happy.
Before thinking about Assen, Bagnaia will stay at Mugello for the test scheduled for Monday, in which all the starters will participate.
