Bagnaia: “I still lack a little feeling”

With 23 points ahead, Francesco Bagnaia may have the best role, but he must deal with the pressure and the fact of being constantly compared to his rival fabio quartararo. And when the day doesn't go as planned, it's even harder. “At the start of FP1, the bike wasn’t working very well,” he said. We struggled with the wind, braking and grip. I improved my feeling, but it wasn't enough. It was the same thing this afternoon. I obviously started better than this morning, but the feeling was not the best. But during my second run, I took a good step forward and I had a similar pace to Fabio and Marc. My feeling has progressed a lot. The time attack was pretty good, but I still lack a bit of feeling, because I don't want to make any mistakes like in Sepang. Today it was easy to make mistakes with this wind. I accepted being a little further back in certain places, because I was having trouble getting into the corners faster. »

🔴 @PeccoBagnaia is still looking for an improvement from P13

Can you feel the tension in the @ducaticorsebox? We definitely can! 😱#TheDecider pic.twitter.com/O0V2PHRT1H

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 4, 2022

Crowned in Moto2, Bagnaia already had to deal with the pressure, but today he admits that this is probably what limited him. “Of course, something limits me, but not much today,” he says. Honestly, my feeling wasn't the best at first. The bike is different compared to last year and on this circuit I feel it more. When braking, I had more difficulty than usual and the rear grip was a little weak. We worked on acceleration and ultimately we made progress in the second run of FP2. But we are still missing some. It's something that limited me in chasing the time, my state of mind for the championship. »

“The pace was quite good, close to that of Fabio who is currently the fastest” – Francesco Bagnaia 

If Bagnaia only needs to finish in the Top 14 to secure the title, he still wants to have good qualifications, just like Quartararo. “I will try to be in Q2,” he emphasizes. This will be the main thing. I think with today's progress we can be in the Top 10. During my second run of FP2, I was running on a rear tire that was already 16 laps old and the pace was pretty good, close to from Fabio who is currently the fastest. I'll try to do a good time attack tomorrow morning. We will see the conditions, as it should be colder, but there will also be less wind. So it might be better for us. »