MotoGP | Bagnaia: “Sprint my weak point? It’s easier to make mistakes”

The complicated Fridays seem to be just a bad memory for Pecco Bagnaia. The reigning world champion also started the Austrian Grand Prix weekend in style, setting the fastest time of the day and a new Red Bull Ring record. A nice change of perspective compared to 2023, when he was initially chasing, which allows him to work more calmly.

“This season we started quite early to be fast already on Friday and it’s something that helps a lot in terms of feeling on the bike, because you can concentrate more on pushing than on understanding what’s not working. That’s the biggest difference and we have a very good base to start at every circuit. There are obviously always things to do, but we’ve changed very little in the last Grands Prix,” said Bagnaia at the end of the day.

“It’s a great help, because you can allow yourself to try fewer things and concentrate on pushing and understanding the tyres. Instead, when you have to try many things you struggle more: last year, for example, I was only ready on Sunday. This year I start well, then in the Sprint I still fall, but at least I have a good feeling (laughs),” he added.

In a certain sense, the Ducati rider acknowledged that the Sprint remains his Achilles heel and did not deny it when asked directly: “Is it my weak point? Let’s say yes, because at the end of the Sunday race we are always very consistent and fast, while on Saturday we always lose a lot of points. Last year the Sprint was sometimes also a bit of management, but now the level is so high that you can only push at 100%. And in these conditions it is easier to make mistakes: there were two races in which it was not my fault and other races in which it was my fault, so it can happen”.

His 1’28″508 was certainly a noteworthy time, but the Piedmontese seems convinced that there is still room to try to do even better. The most important thing, however, is that the pace seems to be very good.

“Today we pushed hard, because when you beat the track record it means you’re pushing a lot. I have to say that we improved a lot on the race pace, because I did 1’29″2 with a 7-lap tire, but then I was able to regularly lap in 29″6-29″7. I did a 30, but because I made a mistake, so I have to say that the performance is very good, maybe also because the track has a bit more rubber, probably due to the tests that were done recently. In the time attack I expected to go fast, but usually there is less difference between soft and medium, but today I felt it quite a lot. I also went a bit long at turn 4, so there should still be a bit of margin”.

As for the most fearsome opponents, he seems to have clear ideas even if it’s only Friday: “The really fast ones are Martin, Morbidelli and Marquez, they are very strong at the moment. We can be a little faster, but for the moment we haven’t tried the hard tyre in front. Jorge tried it and he went quite fast, but it’s too early to say who the rivals will be, but also what the right tyre will be for the Sprint, because we could also use the medium. In my opinion, they are the fastest though”.

At Silverstone there was also a lot of talk about the drivers who in qualifying were proceeding slowly looking for a slipstream and according to Pecco the music will be similar here too: “It can’t be avoided until there is a rule that will allow us to be a bit more relaxed. So there will be the usual chaos, especially on a track like this, because here if you enter the air tunnel then it is more difficult to stop under braking. Having the reference here perhaps helps a little less”.