Yesterday’s sprint had raised high expectations for Bagnaia, but the reality of the GP was very different. In the first half of the race, Pecco managed to stay in Di Giannantonio’s slipstream, not too far behind the group battling for the podium, but in the second half he fell apart. He crossed the finish line in 10th place, by then merely a passenger on his bike.
“Today went very badly,” admitted the rider from Piedmont. “Unfortunately, ever since the start of the year, I’ve been losing a lot of speed in Sunday’s race; I can’t be competitive, and we’re trying to figure out how to improve. In my opinion, we’re doing a great job in practice; we’re making progress. Here in Austin, I managed to start at the front of the grid, and yesterday, in the Sprint, I fought hard. Today, however, there was no way we could be fast. From the first lap, I couldn’t push, and I consumed the tyres after 8 laps.”
Did you expect to struggle this much?
“In the morning, during warm-up, I started feeling worse than yesterday; the bike felt heavier and had less grip.”
Did you hope to stay with Di Giannantonio?
“I believed I could. I’d seen that Fabio had caught up to the leading group; I’d decided to wait because I didn’t feel any rear grip and didn’t want to consume the tyre too much. Despite that, without pushing, I wore it out right away. The last 3 or 4 laps I was really at the limit; I risked crashing just by entering the right-hand turns.”
Was there nothing you could do in the battle against Marquez and Bastianini?
“I tried to push until the end, but in the final laps I could only lap in 2’05”. As soon as I leaned into a right-hander, I lost the rear—it was very strange tyre wear. On the last lap, Marini passed me on the outside; there was nothing more I could do.”
Was it a situation similar to what you experienced in Thailand?
“Yes, and also similar to Goiânia. Here and in Brazil we worked better, but in all three GPs I struggled a lot on Sunday. I have to try to hang in there, and even then I completely wear out the rear tyre.”
The Aprilias don’t seem to have those problems…
“Aprilia has taken a huge step forward this year; they’ve improved a lot. What makes the difference is that they don’t consume their tyres even while going so fast. We’ve always been strong at managing our tyres, but now we’re limited by the fact that the bike doesn’t slow down and doesn’t turn, so we have to use the rear tyre and we wear it out quickly.”
Is Ducati no longer the bike to beat?
“Aprilia is ahead, and quite far ahead at that.”