Pecco’s disappointment: “I’d like to know what happened. I’m slower than last year and I’m having trouble managing the rear tire.” Dall’Igna: “We try to give Pecco maximum support. When things go wrong, they end up going worse.”

A retirement in the Sprint and eighth place in the MotoGP race. Francesco Bagnaia’s results in Austria were below expectations after a promising start in Friday’s practice sessions and Saturday morning. “I’d like to know what happened,” the Ducati rider told Sky Sport. “As in the rest of the season, things have happened that I find difficult to understand. I’ve always been fast here, and I found myself fighting for eighth place, losing many seconds to Marquez. It’s a difficult situation to accept.”
Bagnaia explained that the main problem continues to be his feeling with the new Ducati: “Compared to the front runners, I was slower everywhere. And even if I look at my times from last season, it’s been like this all year. On Friday, I was fast and lapping in the high 29s. On Saturday morning, I felt good, but in the Sprint it went how it went, and in the race we had the usual difficulties. The potential is there, but we’re a bit limited.“ On the rear tire: ”In other years, I was able to manage it, but this year, I don’t know why, but I can’t do it anymore.“

bagnaia: ”ducati, explain to me”—  Bagnaia appeared even tougher when speaking to DAZN Spain: “Today was a repeat of what has happened throughout the rest of the year. I fight with everything I’ve got and in the end I finish eighth, 12 seconds behind. I’m always focused. Yet today I didn’t feel comfortable.” Then came the punchline: “I hope to receive an explanation.” When asked who this message was directed at, Pecco pointed to Ducati. He then added: “Am I losing patience? Definitely…” Words that are already heating up the run-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, scheduled for next week.

dall’igna—  Ducati general manager Gigi Dal’Igna responded shortly afterwards to Sky: “It’s normal: when you expect to do important things but then you can’t express yourself at your level. Clearly Bagnaia is disappointed, unfortunately that’s how it is. Maybe there’s also a psychological aspect, we try to give Pecco maximum support. When things start to go wrong, everything ends up going wrong and it’s difficult to find a starting point.”