Ducati MotoGP star Francesco Bagnaia endured one other depressing afternoon within the Australian Grand Prix dash, ending greater than 30 seconds off the lead with no clear solutions for his lack of tempo.
Bagnaia began eleventh on the grid however shortly fell again, dropping to nineteenth by lap 4. He misplaced one other place to LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra, solely to regain a spot late when Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer retired with three laps remaining.
For a lot of the race, Bagnaia was lapping within the low 1m30s and, though he did decide up tempo late on, his quickest lap was nonetheless two seconds slower than race winner Marco Bezzecchi’s.
Whereas Phillip Island has proved to be a troublesome weekend for the whole Ducati steady to date, with none of its riders qualifying on the entrance row or ending on the rostrum, Bagnaia’s struggles had been probably the most pronounced as he completed second-to-last, solely main take a look at rider Michele Pirro.
The Italian was as soon as once more left scratching his head after the dash, which has at all times been his weak level in MotoGP, admitting he had no rationalization for the extreme shaking his bike suffered on Saturday.
“Very troublesome [race],” he mentioned. “However we’re on it [and] checking the info. We are attempting to know issues. It’s troublesome as a result of it is extraordinarily clear from the info what is occurring. The bike is shaking lots, however we do not know why.
“I do not know what number of instances this season the workforce tried to unravel the scenario. Nevertheless it’s one thing that we understood that’s not one thing dependable to the electronics. It is one thing else and we are attempting to know what it’s.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Group
Photograph by: Gold and Goose Pictures / LAT Pictures / through Getty Pictures
On Friday, Bagnaia skilled one other unusual phenomenon as he rode two equivalent bikes that exhibited totally different traits. Whereas one labored extra to his liking and allowed him to earn a direct entry into Q2, the opposite left him a number of tenths off the tempo.
Nevertheless, issues acquired worse for the Italian on his most popular bike because the enterprise a part of the weekend started, leaving him a mere “passenger” in qualifying and the dash.
“It’s unusual as a result of yesterday I used to be feeling a bit higher. This morning [also], I used to be feeling a bit higher,” he mentioned.
“In qualifying, I began to really feel one thing unusual. And within the dash race, once more, I wasn’t in a position to journey the bike. I used to be a passenger once more, simply making an attempt to manage the shaking. Many instances I needed to shut the gaps exiting from the corners, and that is unusual.”
Bagnaia’s long-running points this yr have led to query marks over his long-term future at Ducati, together with his contract attributable to expire on the finish of the 2026 season.
When it was advised to him that he can’t afford one other season like this, Bagnaia mentioned: “Actually, to complete [2025] like that is robust. However fortunately, I had Motegi. And Motegi is one thing that exhibits [what I am capable of], but in addition helps the workforce, as a result of we all know that in a standard scenario, we’re in a position to combat.
“We simply want to know why, simply in Motegi, we had this type of scenario. So it is obscure it. As a result of, theoretically, every thing is similar. So it is one thing else that’s lacking. We aren’t understanding what it’s.”
Bagnaia will carry a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race for impeding one other rider in qualifying, which means he’ll take the beginning from 14th place.
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