“I’m not here to be a test pilot. Falling in the Losail race, Francesco Bagnaia scratched Ducati on how the Qatari weekend went.
Announced as the man to beat at the start of 2022, following his excellent end to the 2021 season, Francesco Bagnaia had a much more complicated Qatar Grand Prix than expected. He did not play the leading roles either in free practice (8th), or in qualifying (9th), or in the race. A race in which he did not cross the checkered flag.
Bad start, the vice-world champion MotoGP found himself 14th following a few turns. Launched in a comeback, he was regarding to attack Jorge Martin’s 8th place when, at the start of the 12th lap, he fell and dragged the Spaniard with him. The fault of braking a little too late when entering the first corner of the circuit.
Obviously sorry for his opponent, Francesco Bagnaia apologized to the rider, his team and Ducati. Ducati, which he later criticized for what he says was a poor approach to Grand Prix racing. He feels that he has done too much “testing” work, spent too much time defining the right package, when he should have been concentrating on the results of his weekend.
The clash with Jorge Martin: “At that time, Martin was 3-4 tenths slower than me. I had trouble overtaking him on the straight, just like I had trouble overtaking the Yamahas. I came into the corner late, braked a little harder than I should have, but lost the front end and ended up on the ground. It was not a crazy overtaking. It was a weird fall. I apologize to Ducati for what happened, as well as to the Pramac team and Martin. »
Too much testing work, not enough focus on racing: “Until FP3 I was a test pilot. I’m not here to be a tester, but to ride and win races. Unfortunately, at Losail we were not able to optimize the work. We did a million tests without being able to define the best possible package, it arrived late. I’m happy to help the Ducati riders, but not during a race weekend when we should have other priorities. »
“Since the start of the tests, I have never ridden the same bike for more than two consecutive sessions. I was never able to work on adapting my riding style to the bike, or to the circuit here at Losail. It is not conceivable to work so hard and finish my job only in FP3, especially since it was not the right weekend to do it. »
Changing approach for the next Grand Prix: “I spoke to Ducati and Gigi (Dall’Igna) regarding how we approached this weekend. I started to focus on myself and my riding style only from FP4, when I felt confident. After this bear, I’m not going to touch anything on the bike. I am obviously disappointed with this Grand Prix. I knew this morning that I mightn’t fight for the win, but we didn’t think we were that far behind. »
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