Winter testing had shown a revitalized Bagnaia. In the first session of the morning, he was in the right group, but then disaster struck in pre-qualifying. Fifteenth fastest and failing to make it through to pre-qualifying: "When I finish my career, I'll write a book about these practice sessions," joked Pecco when he appeared in front of the journalists. One might have expected him to be in a much worse mood, but the rider from Piedmont is fully aware of what happened and can only be angry with himself.
"It was my fault, I was in too much of a hurry and I worked badly," he admitted candidly. "We had decided to change the setup a bit for pre-qualifying, but we went in the wrong direction, and as soon as I saw the sky turning black, I decided to put on new tyres right away to set a time. But with that setup, I was struggling, and then there was no time to change it. It was my mistake; I need to stay calmer. As the first day of the season, it could have gone better, but I messed up; the bike has potential."
It was a missed opportunity, but Bagnaia doesn't believe he's back to how he felt in 2025.
"Maybe a year ago I would have done worse," he reflected with a smile. "Let's leave 2025 where it is, as far away as possible. In my opinion, we encountered unfortunate conditions, and I ended up in them, mostly because of my own fault. These things can happen."
The awareness is that the GP26 is coming into its own, and the hope is that this setback will not affect the weekend.
"The bike was going pretty well in the morning," he confirmed. "The conditions are a bit different from the tests, perhaps because of the rain that fell in recent days, but it was OK. This morning I was happy with the bike, I was just struggling a bit with tyre wear."
Will moving from Q1 to Q2 tomorrow be a formality? "You can never be sure, but the potential is there," he replied. What potential? "To win," he burst out laughing. "Don't write that down, I'm just joking." Also because Pecco is well aware of who the favorite is in Thailand.
"Aprilia and Bezzecchi are very competitive, they are dominating. I think that at the moment they have a 3 or 4 tenths advantage over everyone else in terms of pace," he said.
We'll have to see what his level will be. As mentioned, he likes the new Desmosedici. "It seems to allow you to brake later and stop the bike earlier, so it's a good improvement for me. It has greater stability," he explained. Finally, he revealed why he didn't choose the new aerodynamic package, aligning himself with Marquez's choice. "I had hardly ever used the 2025, and the 2024 is a good base for me. I'll wait until the first tests to try the new fairing, if it arrives, and then I'll decide which one to use," he concluded.