Bagnaia “has a lot of questions” about dismal Indonesian MotoGP result

The four-time MotoGP race winner qualified sixth having come through the Q1 session, which he admitted afterwards that he “would have signed for” after yellow flags in Friday’s FP2 session stopped him from progressing straight into Q2.

With the rain conditions that hit the shortened 20-lap Mandalika race being typically good for Ducati, Bagnaia was expected to be a front runner last Sunday.

But a “strange” feeling on his Michelin medium wet tyre robbed him of pace and caused him to struggle under braking – the Italian lucky to stay on his bike after a huge moment into Turn 1 on the sixth lap.

“I have a lot of questions about my race,” Bagnaia said, having taken the chequered flag 35.7s off the win in 15th.

“I have to understand a lot of things on what didn’t work because it’s strange that in the test in Malaysia I had a really great feeling in the wet.

“In the test here [at Mandalika] in the first session I was very strong on the wet and my feeling was incredible like always.

“And today I was struggling a lot from the start. Already in the first braking I was feeling strange on the first braking of the race, I lost a lot of positions.

“And then I was trying to push a bit more I was losing the front always and I had the luck to don’t crash when in the finish of the straight because I was quite fast and it was a bit scary.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“But looking also at the tyres, it has not worked.

“Maybe I was not pushing like I have to do, but looks strange.

“I’m quite disappointed and for sure not happy about this weekend because we’ve taken just one point in two weekends.

“Our potential is a lot higher than this. In the warm-up I was very competitive on used tyres. So, it’s a difficult situation, a difficult moment.”

Bagnaia now sits last of the points scorers in the standings in 20th having crashed out of the opening round in Qatar after a race all 2022 Ducati runners struggled in.

But Bagnaia says his bike was not his problem in the Indonesia race and feels he was “ready to fight for the win” had it been dry.

“For me , the problem was not my bike, sincerely because like always on wet our bike is incredible,” he added.

“[It] was not like this for me, I was struggling too much with one of the strong points of our bike in wet which is the front.

“It’s a strange feeling. It’s just the second race, we are understanding things, my feeling in the morning [warm-up] was incredible with the bike.

“We were ready to fight for the win. I would like to reset my mindset and start again thinking positively again.”