Bagnaia insisted his struggles were not down to his or his team’s performance
Francesco Bagnaia has provided a cryptic response to questions on his struggles in the sprint for MotoGP’s Aragon Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion finished in ninth place – his worst sprint finish of the year – after struggling for grip throughout.
Bagnaia dropped from third to sixth after a poor start on the dirty side of the track, where he suffered from wheelspin – one of a number of riders to do so at the launch of the 11-lap event.
The championship leader staged a brief fightback to fourth before dropping back to his lowly finish in the race, which was won by Marc Marquez.
When quizzed as to why he struggled so badly, Bagnaia replied: “I will not say what it was but [the problem] was not [coming] from me.
“It was not from the bike and not from the team. My feeling was very bad with the front, honestly. The [tyre] pressure was perfect and temperature was perfect.”
MotoGP bikes typically launch and accelerate with fantastic force and efficiency thanks to electronic aids and start devices, but the opening seconds of Saturday’s sprint were more akin to running on ice.
“Last year in Qatar [it] also happened to me on the Saturday, so similar,” added Bagnaia. “But it’s out of our control.”
While the Ducati rider picked up a single point, championship rival Jorge Martin banked seven by finishing second and, in turn, surpassed Bagnaia in the standings, taking a three-point advantage.
“I wasn’t able to fight for a win because looking at the lap[s] that Marc did, [he] was unbeatable,” conceded Bagnaia.
“But my ambition and my potential was to fight against Jorge. All the weekend we have been very close in terms of performance and we just lost a possibility..”
Organisers had scrubbed the MotorLand start grid after requests from riders in the Friday Safety Commission meeting only for thunderstorms later that evening had dirtied the surface.
Yamaha rider Alex Rins described the situation as “unacceptable” and said it was tough to even lean the motorcycle in the Saturday morning FP2.
Honda’s Luca Marini added he wants track bosses to revisit the grid issues, claiming: “We will ask them to clean the positions more because now, it is dangerous.”
