English
Italiano
Pecco Bagnaia arrives at Silverstone as the leader of the World Championship. Today, however, it was Jorge Martin who played the starring role, managing to put everyone in line. The champion from Piedmont therefore had to settle for the third fastest time just over a tenth from the top.
Pecco, however, is serene and calm, aware that the weekend is just beginning and it is not yet time to draw conclusions.
"It went pretty well as a first day, " he said , "I'm not 100 percent satisfied because there is enough to do, as the Ducati tends to be nervous and that causes me problems. However, we managed to take a big step compared to this morning and we are all very close. Martin is very fast, especially in T3, but I know why, as he keeps some margin going in while I am much more on the limit."
Tire talk: you did not use the hard. How come?
"The hard was the right choice for today, in fact it worked better. That, however, was not our choice since tomorrow the temperatures look cooler and even more so on Sunday so we worked with a view to the next few days."
What was it like getting back on the MotoGP bike?
"With all the things I've had to do it's like I haven't been on vacation for the past few weeks. I have to say that riding the MotoGP gives more satisfaction than riding the Panigale despite it being a great bike, since you don't change the speed."
You were already here in Silverstone at a Monster event. Did that help you?
"I could say anything I want, but not too much. You definitely see the track, but it doesn't make as much difference as maybe you might imagine."
What is the balance of this Friday?
"Everything went well. I thought I would see Marquez faster, but he has always struggled here, as have the Aprilias. Certainly Martin confirmed what I thought. At the moment Jorge is the fastest, but this is my best Friday ever here at Silverstone. So we have to work to close the gap in the third sector."
On the race pace instead?
"The pace was pretty good even though Martin was impressive. I decided to use the medium, however, because as mentioned tomorrow the conditions will be cooler."
What is it like jumping from Michelin to Pirelli and then back to Michelin again?
"With Michelin you have less grip, but much more support since braking is more demanding in MotoGP. With the Pirellis, on the other hand, you have more cornering speed but I struggled a lot under braking because the tire feels soft. For sure the grip at the rear is incredible and I would be curious to see them on a flying lap."
Next year Ducati will have only 3 factory bikes instead of this year's 4. Is this a disadvantage?
"It's not a big disadvantage, but certainly four bikes are better than three, as you have more data to access and in testing can compare a lot more data. In the end, however, it's not me who has to decide."
