English
Italiano
Pecco Bagnaia is disappointed and he cannot hide it. That there could be some problems with the low temperatures of Aragon was to be on the cards for the future Ducati factory rider, but starting from 17th position on the grid was not at all expected. Unfortunately, Bagnaia has a problem finding confidence with the front of his Ducati when temperatures are below a certain level and without confidence it is difficult to push a MotoGP bike to the limit.
Before the meeting with the journalists, Bagnaia also met Gigi Dall'Igna to find solutions together and Pecco seems confident that he can at least get back on top tomorrow, perhaps being able to make a good comeback in the race. However, the talks with Dall'Igna are not the result of the contract that will bring Pecco to the Ducati Factory team in 2021, but rather a healthy habit that has always existed in Ducati.
"I haven't spoken so much with Gigi since signing the contract for 2021 - explained Bagnaia - I'm simply in more difficulty here. When I go fast, I look at him and just tell him 'everything is ok, we don’t have to touch anything on the bike' and he is happy! But today we have to touch a lot because we have to find solutions and for this reason we talked more than usual, to find some solutions with his help and with the help of the team ".
But specifically what did you talk about?
"I discussed with Gigi about this qualifying because I went really badly. All the weekend I’ve struggled, the beauty of Ducati is this, that we find solutions together. Among all of us, we are doing a good job and I think we have some good ideas for tomorrow morning, I think they will help me. Starting from the back is always difficult because in MotoGP it has become hard to recover when you start from behind. In Barcelona even if I didn't start from the front, I managed to recover a lot, tomorrow I'll try to do the same. "
At least on the race pace you are not so bad…
"Yes, we are in better shape for the race than in qualifying. I really struggled with the new tyres, I wasn't fast. We have to understand how to do it, starting 17th is not the best. We were looking at the data, with the same tyres as the other Ducati riders we were doing well in FP4. Then everyone put on the new tyre and made an important step forward, except me. We are not in such bad shape for the race, at least we can fight for the top 8 in my opinion. I think that we will move in the right direction for the set-up of the bike, we can try to fight to stay in the top 8. It is certainly not an exciting result, but we will see ".
The cold remains a huge problem for you…
"It seems clear to me that I go well in hot weather, or at least that I go faster. The point is that it is not acceptable for a MotoGP rider like me, who next year will be going into the factory team, to have problems like that. It's something I have to work on a lot, where I can perhaps learn from Jack who at the moment is the only one who can get the best out of the bike in this situation. In the end, if these are the conditions, we just have to get used to them. I'm sure we will be able to take that step forward that we are missing, it is essential to succeed."
Could tyre wear be a problem for a comeback?
"This track eats the tyre, especially on the left side. It will be essential to choose well between the soft and the medium. Today I did 17 laps with the soft and in the end it had almost lost its shape, it seemed flat at the end. It will be vitally important to understand what tyre to use. None of us Ducati riders did many laps with the medium, so it's difficult to choose. But I seemed to understand that those who used it in FP4 were fast, I'm referring to the Ducati riders. It will be really important to understand what we will manage to do in the warm-up tomorrow morning ".
So a comeback is possible?
"My pace is not too far from that of the other riders. I'm not as fast as the Yamaha riders, but not very far from everyone else. Looking at the data, we see that I lose time in points of the track where I should make up time compared to the others, so I think I can make a good step forward. It will be important not to lose the group of fast guys tomorrow, but I know that the start of the race will be difficult because we have problems with the cold tyre. If we manage to stay in the top ten towards the middle of the race, usually I manage the tyres well, so I'm confident for the last part of the race”.".
