Bagnaia's ordeal continues, amid disappointing performances and assorted problems. Valencia was no exception, with a qualifying session interrupted by an empty fuel tank. After such a year, one can only imagine what the climate is like in the box, and Pecco is careful not to point the finger at anyone. By now only the end is awaited, but that is unlikely to show an upswing, considering that he will also start 16th tomorrow for the GP (and today he finished 14th in the Sprint).
"It was a good start to the day, we managed to make a small step forward that helped me to be faster - he remembered FP3 - In qualifying, with the soft rear tyre on the first attempt I didn't manage to do too well, but in the second I was fast. Then I ran out of fuel, that's something that shouldn't happen, but everyone can make mistakes and I made a lot of them. It can happen."
So it was a human error?
"Of course, it was a miscalculation."
Is it also the result of the situation being experienced in the pits?
"There is a difficult situation and it can happen. You try to do the best you can, it's not easy and these things can happen."
You were also called by the stewards, what was the reason for that?
"It was simply to ask me what happened, if I could have avoided the yellow flags. It was just a chat. At that time I didn't know that I was out of fuel and I wanted to take the bike back to the pits because I only have one bike, the second one we can't use."
Why?
"For some reason we have difficulty performing with the other one."
Without that problem, would the weekend have looked any different?
"Definitely it would have been different, I would have started more in the front. However, I don't know if that would have been enough, we need more."
The last free practice session went quite well, from the Sprint what did you realize?
"In FP2 I went well, although there were those who were faster than me, I was still more competitive than yesterday, but aware that another step forward would be needed. As for the Sprint, this is a track where it's hard to overtake and I had the same problem I've had all season: when I'm behind someone it's hard to get close. I did the whole race within 6 tenths of Aldeguer and I could never get close to him. In the end my pace was similar to that of Quartararo, who finished 7th, but it's hard to think of a different result if you're not much faster than those ahead of you."
You slipped to 5th in the championship, does that change anything for you?
"Honestly, it doesn 't change anything for me also because our goal is something else."
Tomorrow will be the last race of the season.
"After a year of trying a thousand things, no one ever had any ideas and no one has any ideas anymore. I just hope I can have fun and that the bike works well."