An unexpected crash on the final lap of the Japanese Grand Prix could do irreparable damage to Francesco Bagnaia’s psychology: on arrival in Buriram, where the 17th round of the MotoGP championship will be held on Sunday, Pecco admitted that he is still haunted by “wrong thoughts”.
The Ducati factory team leader said they have not yet understood why he lost control of the front wheel where 20 laps before he was going almost aggressively. Thoughts about – why it happened haunted Bagnaia and aggravated his existence.
In Motegi, the fate of the 2022 MotoGP championship was decided. And while relative to the series leader, Fabio Quartararo, the gap has not increased critically because of their relatively low race positions, on a psychological level it can give strength to one by taking it away from the other.
“To be honest, no, I haven’t recovered yet. Still thinking about the incident, trying to understand why it happened,” Bagnaia admitted at a press conference in Buriram. – We have to work with the engineers today on this – to understand why we had such acceleration problems in the race. From the beginning of the race I was losing time, I couldn’t overtake my rivals. I was stuck behind Pol Espargaro and there was no way I could overtake. The whole weekend was pretty weird, from the change in weather to how the motorcycle actually worked out.”
Feelings of a lack of “normality” in Ducati’s handling are poisoning Bagnaia: “Until we understand all the details of why I couldn’t overtake, I’m not sure.”
To continue fighting for the MotoGP title, all Bagnaia needs in Thailand is a strong race with a good outcome (victory). Otherwise, he could be in for a final wipeout…
After the Japanese Grand Prix, the situation in the MotoGP championship is as follows:
- Fabio Cuartararo (Yamaha) 219 points
- Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) – 201 (-18)
- Alex Espargaro (Aprile) – 194 (-25)
- Enea Bastianini (Ducati) – 170 (-44)
- Jack Miller (Ducati) – 159.