Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagania explained his “weak point” which ruined his chances of winning the Qatar MotoGP race.
The Torinese rider had every reason to be happy after prevailing in the last round at the Circuit of the Americas, securing his first Grand Prix win of the season.
However, what followed in Qatar saw the double MotoGP champion struggle to maintain that consistency, finishing eighth in the Sprint and second in Sunday’s race.
“I have to be able to do the same on Saturday, what I manage to do on Sunday,” Bagnaia reflected to GPOne.
“Yesterday, in the Sprint, I was unable to be aggressive, and to overtake, while today I did.
“I can and must improve, because this is my weak point.
“Today, the only way I could try to fight against [Marc] Marquez would have been to start close to him, I was not in that position and it was my fault.”
Bagnaia revealed that quali was his ‘biggest problem’
Bagnaia suffered a late crash in qualifying, resulting in an 11th-place start, which he believed hindered his chances of winning the race.
Due to starting further back, Bagnaia admitted that his strategy was to attack from the off to build up as much ground as possible.
“I had a strong start, but it’s not easy to manage when you go so far behind.
“I probably pushed too much, then there was the duel with [Franco] Morbidelli and I wore out the tyres.
“When I passed Marc [Marquez] at one point, I started to feel the tyres dropping and realised that he was managing them instead.”
The Ducati rider admitted that tyre wear played a role after battling with the leading pack, and said third place was the best he could manage – until he was promoted to second following Maverick Viñales’ tyre pressure penalty.
“When you start so far back you have to use the tyres more to go out and pass the riders in front of you.
“The same in the fight with Franco, where among other things we lost a second to Maverick [Vinales].
“Then I tried to close the gap, I got within half a second of Vinales, but at that point, when there were six laps to go, I started to feel vibrations and I couldn’t be fast in certain situations anymore.
“The biggest problem, however, was starting 11th, if something that doesn’t happen, it’s hard to think of doing anything better than a podium. I really mustn’t be in that position anymore.”
