All or nothing. It may seem banal, but these few words describe quite well the almost three years that Pecco Bagnaia spent as an official Ducati rider. The Piedmontese took home a world title, seasoned with 16 victories, to which he also added 4 successes in the Sprint.
In the same way, however, there were too many setbacks, because in the same period of time there were also 11 retirements (to which we must add the fall in Argentina when he was second, even if he then finished 16 °), considering however that little blame can be attributed to Pecco for the two that happened in Barcelona: last year he was literally knocked down at the first corner by Takaaki Nakagami, while this year his highside at the second corner was too strange to have been of a trivial mistake.
If we analyze the period from when it was unlocked, with the victory at Aragon in 2021, out of 52 races held (including Sprints) the Ducati rider stood on the podium on 34 occasions. The problem is that in ten of the other 18 starts he didn’t see the checkered flag: too many zeros, which almost seem to denote a poor ability to be satisfied when he fails to establish the perfect feeling with his Desmosedici GP.
And it is somewhat in this sense that we can read the mistake of the Buddh International Circuit where, knowing that he wasn’t right in braking, he could have settled for an almost certain third place and limited the damage in the World Championship, but instead he preferred to take a risk the extra hard tire on the front, the solution that Michelin had brought to India as a back-up, to try to improve the braking stability of its bike and compete with Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin.
“We accepted the risk of racing with the hard tire and up until the moment of the fall it had performed well. I felt better than with the medium, but I was at the limit. And when you are at the limit anything can happen”, he said to explain the his crash at turn 5, which occurred when he was second. Then he also apologized to his team: “It was completely my mistake: today it would have been better to understand the situation and finish third. Among other things, with what happened afterwards (Martin suffered a physical decline due to of dehydration, ed.), maybe I would have finished second. But at the moment I’m not happy with my feeling on the bike.”
An error which in fact squandered almost all the margin that had been built in the first part of the season, given that now he has just 13 points left to manage over a Martin in great form, who between Misano and India was able to take home the beauty of three victories and a second place.
However, if Pecco became world champion a year ago it is because he has demonstrated a great ability to never lose his composure even in the most difficult moments. After every crash there have always been reactions from a high-ranking champion: last year, after the Sachsenring crash, which sent him falling to -91 points behind Fabio Quartararo, it would have been easy to write off the season as lost.
But his desire to never give up, which can be a limit in situations like yesterday, is undoubtedly his strong point when it comes to getting your head back up. After Germany, in fact, came four consecutive victories, which relaunched him in a big way. But previously, after the crash at Le Mans, when he was fighting for success with Enea Bastianini, he immediately made up for it by triumphing at Mugello.
A script revised again this year after Austin’s slip when he was in the lead or after the accident again at Le Mans with Maverick Vinales, because three successes and a second place came between Jerez and Mugello.
In light of this, it is reasonable to expect a great reaction in Japan, even if it will be essential to fix the braking of his Desmosedici GP, given that this is the aspect that probably makes the biggest difference on the Motegi Twin Ring, as well as one of Pecco’s winning weapons.
“Braking has always been our strong point and now it is our weak point, because I can’t stop the bike and my rear moves a lot, but we still haven’t understood why”, he explained, underlining that in the last two races this problem probably affected him more than the leg bruised in the accident in Barcelona.
Once again, however, the difficulties seem to be a stimulus for Bagnaia, who doesn’t want to know about removing the number 1 from the top fairing: “I want to get back to what our position is: in Austria we led in an incredible way, while in Barcelona we were competing with the Aprilias and the second Ducati was much further back. Something happened from Misano, because I didn’t feel like I always did on my home track. But I have 100% confidence in my team, because we won’t give up. face these difficulties and we will resolve the matter.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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