Motegi.- Pecco Bagnaia’s Japanese weekend was complicated in Saturday’s qualifying “this bike is not going in the wet” and he definitely twisted in Sunday’s race, in which he suffered a crash while trying to catch up with Fabio Quartararo on the last lap to snatch eighth place from him at the finish.
“I made a big mistake; I screwed up. I tried to be in front but I couldn’t. This morning everything was perfect in the warm up,” the Italian lamented. “I was lucky because Fabio didn’t have his day and Aleix Espargaró had a problem,” Ducati’s summary of the damage minimized.
Bagnaia started 12th on the grid and was involved in a fight with his teammate who will be next year, Enea Bastinini, whom he could only overcome in the final part to try to catch up with Quartararo.
“I tried it on the last lap and I messed up. I’ve apologized to the whole team, because I didn’t do my job. It’s true that the front tire pressure shot up, and the team apologized for it. But the crash It was my thing, nothing to do with the tire issue,” he admitted his part of the responsibility.
With this zero, Bagnaia, who had been placed 10 points behind Fabio in the general, now drops to 18.
“A point can make the difference at the end of the year (because of overtaking), but it may have been too ambitious. The only thing I can do is try to win,” referring to the upcoming races.
“I was too optimistic in the maneuver, and the only good thing is that I didn’t take Fabio ahead,” he said relieved.
Bagnaia’s zero contrasts with the crushing victory of his teammate Jack Miller, the first of the year for the Australian, at an astonishing distance from the second.
“I also don’t understand how Miller was so fast and I was so slow. Today I couldn’t overtake and that’s very strange, because normally I don’t have problems in that sense.”
Despite this mistake, the Ducati headliner will not be desperate at the next appointment.
“It is true that this weekend was very strange, but in Thailand I will not be more aggressive than normal,” settled the Torino.
