Bagnaia “shocked” at performance in “nightmare” German GP sprint

Francesco Bagnaia was left “shocked” following a wet sprint race at the Sachsenring in which he was unable to score points – despite having no major incidents.

In what might constitute the lowest low in a disappointing 2025 MotoGP season thus far, Bagnaia finished 12th – while his factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez won the race with a glorious move on the last lap.

There was no explanation for the double world champion’s performance other than an outright lack of pace on a wet day in Germany. The sprint was entirely consistent with his performance in qualifying: he was the slowest rider to complete a lap in Q2, which earned him a lowly 11th place on the grid.

“After every session, I looked at the data of the other riders to understand why I was losing two seconds every lap,” said Bagnaia. “Understanding [the problem] didn’t change anything during the day. I was always at the same level – slow.

“I’m very disappointed about today, about my performance… I’m shocked about what I did today. I don’t remember a race or a session where I was this slow in the wet. It’s difficult to understand.”

Asked if there was anything about his Saturday that had been positive, the ever-frank Bagnaia replied: “The start. It was a good reaction time and good acceleration. [But] the rest of the day, it was a nightmare. And I was slow, very slow.

“I would like to have pushed more, but I could not. All day I had very low grip from the rear. I was struggling a lot to find some support from the rear.”

The complaint about rear grip contrasted with Bagnaia’s ongoing dry-weather issue, a lack of feeling from the front of the bike.

Meanwhile, his dominant team-mate Marquez continued to find a great deal more speed while walking a fine line with regard to adhesion.

The Spaniard was almost two seconds faster than Bagnaia in qualifying. Comparing their best laps during the race, in which both riders chose the same tyres, reveals an advantage of 1.200s for Marquez.

Yet the championship leader stressed that he had been right on the edge as he recovered from a poor start to seize the lead from Marco Bezzecchi on the last lap.

“We did an amazing race, but honestly speaking, I took too much risk. We are smiling now, but I was close to crashing.”

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team, Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

While Marquez has at times shown a willingness to settle for extending his points lead in tricky races this year, he admitted that his instincts had taken over on Saturday at the Sachsenring.

“On that last lap, you don’t think a lot,” he said. “You don’t think about the championship.”