Bagnaia reveals Ducati breakthrough to fix season-long MotoGP issues

Francesco Bagnaia says Ducati has made a major set-up breakthrough on his MotoGP bike, one he believes has finally resolved the issues that plagued him all season.

Although refusing to divulge the changes, Bagnaia revealed that Ducati went into a completely different direction at the Hungarian Grand Prix out of necessity, after he was knocked out in the first segment of qualifying.

While from the outside, the radical adjustments didn’t appear to make much of a difference, as he failed to score any points in the sprint and finished ninth in the grand prix itself.

However, having struggled with braking and corner entry all season, the two-time world champion noticed a considerable improvement in this area at Balaton Park.

And, having previously lost a heap of time while running in traffic, Bagnaia was able to battle on even terms again, engaging in a thrilling final-lap scrap with the KTM of Pol Espargaro.

“When you change an amount like this in a bike, you feel a lot,” he said. “It was less than two centimeters, but I think it was the correct way to change something because it was the lowest point of the season [for me]. 

“So I tried something very different, and finally I was riding ‘my bike’, so I was happy.”

He added: “What changed a lot was that straight braking was very similar, but the biggest difference was when I was entering corners.

“I had the chance to stop for the bike with angle, and it’s something that I was missing all the season [while] following others. When you are following others, the slipstream is not helping you to stop, and if you are not able to stop with the angle, you’re f*****, so this was my problem. 

“And what we did in Hungary also helped for this.”

Bagnaia described the present phase as “the start of the season” for him, as he revealed the changes in Hungary were instigated by Ducati.

It followed Bagnaia getting impatient in Austria and putting pressure on Ducati to get to the bottom of his troubles, amid the contrasting fortunes of Marc Marquez on the other side of the factory garage.

“It was by the team,” he said of the changes. “[Crew chief] Christian [Gabarrini] told me and the engineers. [It was] something that was in mind, we tried at other times this direction, but never that much. 

“It was always a middle thing. With the middle things, I understood and I learned in the past, [that] it never works. So it’s always better to directly move to the big step, and finally it was something good.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Asked if it was a desperate step given his slump in MotoGP, Bagnaia said: “It’s always a desperate step that can make a huge difference.”

The Italian was also optimistic about his prospects following the Aragon in-season test in June, but he feels he now has a genuine reason to believe that Ducati has made a step in the right direction.

“The thing was that when I was [riding] alone, I was always happy and competitive. If I look at every Friday and Saturday morning, I was always competitive,” he explained.

“Then for some reason, I was arriving in qualifying, and I was fast, but never had the kind of speed I was hoping for. 

“And then in the race, I was following others, and that was always a nightmare. So this time, I did both races, sprint race and Sunday, [following] another rider, and for the first time I was able to follow [closely] and I was able to overtake, so it was great.”