Francesco Bagnaia had one of the most frustrating experiences during the MotoGP Catalan GP Sprint race. The Ducati rider was leading comfortably until he crashed on the final lap and had to retire.
Bagnaia has some ideas on what might have caused the fall: ‘I waited for the bike in the box and stayed in the box for an hour analyzing everything. Because when you don’t really understand why you fell, it’s best to analyze everything. It seems that coming in slower with the same brakes can cause you to fall. Under normal conditions this can’t happen, but here the grip level is a disaster and it can happen. So we also have to analyze it, understand it, and try to be more careful in this kind of situation for tomorrow – because the race is longer, hotter, and it will be important to finish‘.
Frustrated by yet another missed opportunity in a Sprint race when everything was going well, Bagnaia stressed the importance of finishing the main race: ‘It’s already been three weeks in a row that on Saturday we are really strong for the Sprint race, but we can’t finish because of problems or crashes. We lost another great opportunity today. I was the fastest, I was leading, I was cruising to the checkered flag, but it wasn’t enough. For tomorrow, it will be important to learn the positive lessons from today, of which there are many. But finishing the race will be very important because it seems that on this track I have problems finishing races, but it will be important to do so‘.
After the race, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) – who ended up winning – commented that he saw the Italian make a few mistakes. However, Bagnaia believes this was not the case: ‘I had a little problem with the bike, but honestly I don’t know what mistakes Aleix saw, because I was just faster. It is true that when exiting turn 5 on the previous lap I had a problem with the gearbox which we are in the process of resolving, but apart from that I made no other mistakes‘.
On the other hand, Bagnaia spoke about his approach to Saturday’s race: ‘As soon as I saw how they were growing, I said to myself, “I don’t care, let’s see what they’re going to do.” My strategy was just to try to be as precise as possible with the rear tire. In the last six laps I was much, much faster than the others. I think that on this circuit it is also very important to manage the Sprint‘.
