The feeling is that of a wasted opportunity and therefore it hurts. Jorge Martin was probably out of reach in the Buriram Sprint, but perhaps Pecco Bagnaia could have lost less than the 9 points he conceded to his rival in the title race if he had started better and not gotten stuck in traffic, losing a lot of time in the early stages of the race. race.
The pace he showed in the second part of the race, when he had a clear track, seems to say exactly this. This is why the Ducati rider seems to be very disappointed after only finishing in seventh place, but it is also understandable.
“I get annoyed, because it’s one thing when you struggle at the weekend. But when you’re so strong and you don’t achieve anything, it’s something that makes me angry, because it’s not fair either for me or for my team. Today we didn’t do our best and this pisses me off a lot,” Bagnaia said when he met journalists in the paddock of the Chang International Circuit.
The reasons that delayed him in the first laps are quite simple to explain: “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make a start as I would have imagined and this compromised the race a bit. Then the fight between Alex Marquez and Zarco, who in that moment was quite useless, it made us waste a lot of time and I found myself 1.6 seconds behind the group in front of me.
“Once I was free, my pace was very fast, among the fastest, but it wasn’t enough: I did everything I could, but I had already lost too much time. The only positive thing to take today is the pace, but also the wear of the rear tire and the speed we had at the end compared to the others, because in the space of 6 laps I recovered 1″6. It’s important for tomorrow’s race, but it will be essential to start well”, he added, speaking of the factors that could help him in the long race, also thanks to the switch to the hard rear tyre, which must be taken practically for granted.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
At the last corner there would have been the possibility of grabbing sixth place against his friend Marco Bezzecchi, but the world champion preferred not to risk too much: “It would have been possible, but unfortunately I had very high tire pressure in front. I had a lockup at the last braking point and if I hadn’t managed to recover it we would both have crashed. Already last year I threw away a race for a point, so it was better to avoid it”, he explained, referring to the time he crashed in Japan in 2022.
Today’s bad race cost him a third of the lead he had accumulated after Australia, but what worries him most are the difficulties he continues to encounter in qualifying lately, also due to tires that don’t always perform the same in his opinion.
“Unfortunately today we lost 9 points, which could be important in the end. If on Thursday I said that a 27 point margin is small, 18 is even less. But I’m not so much worried about the points as qualifying: we went very fast all weekend, then the first time attack I did 1’30″2 and it was impossible to push. With the second tire I did 1’29″5, so there is also a certain inconsistency in tire performance that doesn’t even help us”, he concluded.
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