MotoGP | Bagnaia: “Falling due to track conditions makes your dicks spin…”

A wasted opportunity. Still. Pecco Bagnaia is dark-faced at the end of the Sprint, which ended nine corners from the finish line in the gravel. In Barcelona he started from second place and dominated his pursuers with a good margin, but you should never take anything for granted until the checkered flag waves. The surprise is always around the corner and in the sensational he also left 12 precious points in the championship on the asphalt.

“I’m pissed off, it’s normal,” explained the reigning world champion, trying to explain the fall. If from the outside it may seem like a pilot error, Bagnaia defends himself by claiming to be even more angry at the fact that he was not at fault. “When you fall and there’s a valid reason it’s easier. When you fall because the problem is the condition of the asphalt it pisses you off. I had managed everything perfectly and falling on the last lap, with nine corners to go, makes you dizzy. Especially because I entered more slowly and with the same brake. There is no valid reason, but evidently this is enough.”

Not only Pecco, several riders crashed in the Barcelona Sprint, in particular Raul Fernandez, who also crashed when he was leading. Acosta took a risk and Binder also slipped when he was dominating. A coincidence? “Even Binder, when he lay down, seemed normal to me. I knew it would be a difficult race, but I had it under control. I don’t know who to blame. When you crash, it’s 90% the rider’s fault. I take my responsibility by saying that maybe I should have done it as fast as the lap before. But I kept more margin and lay down.”

“A case? I don’t know, but today was strange. Whoever was in front fell. Even Acosta, when I passed him at Turn 10, his front had closed. Today in the left turns in general we were at the limit. Tomorrow will be even worse, because it will be even hotter. But I don’t know if there is a reason why if you are in front there is a risk of falling”, reflects Bagnaia.

The Ducati rider isn’t sure about the possibility of falling when you’re in the lead, but he has no doubts about one aspect. According to him, a big problem with this track is the asphalt: “What is certain is that this track is a disaster, it should absolutely be resurfaced. But when you push the Safety Commission they say no and so it will be the same for the next few years. Let’s hope they do something, because in my opinion it’s not nice to see so many crashes in all categories with so much consistency, so in my opinion they should think about it carefully.”

The reigning world champion slips not only in the race, but also in the championship. With today’s new zero he drops to fourth place overall, 44 points behind leader Jorge Martin: “This zero has little or no impact on tomorrow’s race. But it affects the championship a lot. That’s 12 points down the drain. At Jerez we were very fast, on the podium, at Le Mans we were very fast, on the podium. Here it was won. So in terms of the championship it affects a lot. I saw the ranking and before this race I scored 14 points in the Sprints and Martin 50. In the Sunday race I scored 77 and he 79. So he’s having a lot of influence, too much.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bagnaia will start from second place on the grid in tomorrow’s race too, but it could have been a pole position if a yellow flag hadn’t forced Race Direction to take away his record lap. Here too, however, Pecco has doubts due to the controversy surrounding Raul Fernandez’s ride, first taken away and then given back: “Tardozzi went to see because he wanted to understand what happened. I didn’t see the yellow flag at all. We were only shown a still image, not even the video. I was leaning to the left with the yellow flag behind me on the right, even worse than Portimao. Luckily I had done the lap before very quickly. But let’s say I was with Raul Fernandez… It’s strange. Let’s say that in the end it’s the same because I’m still second, but I would need a little more consistency in certain things.”