“We started from last year’s base, but the new bike is different and it was almost dangerous to ride it. Now I’m competitive. Did Ducati oppose changing the format? I’ll continue not to do the time attack in FP1”
Written by Matteo Aglio – Fri, 23/06/2023 – 19:24
This morning in Assen Bagnaia seemed to have got on the wrong bike. His Desmosedici no longer looked like a brush with which to draw perfect trajectories, but like a red bull determined to unseat its rider. The two argued throughout the first round, then calm returned in the afternoon.
“It has been a long time since I got so angry with my Ducati – Pecco smiles with the awareness that the worst is over – FaI tried so much and I didn’t understand why, the bike moved like crazy and after the first outing I was very tired, it was demanding to ride it, almost dangerous. I was caught off guard because I thought I was better off. Then we got to work.”
Why all those problems?
“We started from last year’s base, because I had been very competitive, but the new bike is different and it didn’t work. A bit like what happened in Jerez, it took me some time to be among the bestthe. We found the way and in the afternoon I was competitive both in terms of pace with the medium tire and in the time attack, even if I didn’t do an excellent lap, I can be happy with the work”.
What did you ask your team?
“I don’t like it when the bike is so nervous, I prefer it more stable, longer. But you can’t have it when there’s little grip and you have to find another direction, it was difficult to find the right balance. I asked my team to put more weight on the front to have more load on the tires and we managed to get a good set-up. I didn’t expect to struggle so much at the beginning but I’m happy to be back fast”.
What is your level, taking Bezzecchi as a reference?
“I’m very fast in terms of pace, while Marco was very good on the flying lap, he had something more than me. The most important thing on Friday is to be in the top 10 and that’s it”.
How much room for improvement do you have?
“There’s more because the track has less grip than last year and it’s likely to get better over the days”.
The practice format will not change this year, Ducati has taken sides against the proposal not to count the P1s for entry into Q2 from Silverstone.
“Even if the format won’t change, I will continue to work as I did today. I prefer not to do the time attack in the first session, because you risk filtering out the bike’s problems, it’s better to continue using the same tyres. Logically, if there’s a risk of rain in the afternoon you’re forced to try the flying lap, but otherwise I’d rather continue like this”.
Have you spoken to Ducati’s top management about this topic?
“They know my opinion, for me it would be better if the first session was free practice, but we would also need more front tires”.
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