Francesco Bagnaia believes technical gremlins have value him greater than 40 factors in MotoGP this season, taking among the momentum out of what has in any other case been a powerful comeback from his 2025 nadir.
The manufacturing facility Ducati rider suffered one other painful retirement on the final spherical in Assen, pulling into the pits from fourth place with a suspected braking problem.
Curiously, Bagnaia declined to disclose the precise reason behind his retirement when he spoke to the media forward of this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Sachsenring.
“I can’t say something. The bike simply… I wanted to return to the field, to the storage,” was all he would say about his sudden exit from the Dutch GP.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged {that a} sequence of reliability and technical points has had a big impression on his title problem: “Contemplating what occurred within the entrance, sure. If I simply contemplate the factors misplaced between Jerez, Le Mans and Assen, there are greater than 40 factors.”
Bagnaia sits eighth within the championship heading into this weekend’s German GP, having rediscovered a lot of his tempo with what he has beforehand described as a brand new improvement course for the Ducati.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Crew
Picture by: Gold and Goose Pictures / Getty Photographs
Between Catalan and Czech Grands Prix, he scored 4 Sunday podiums in a row, whereas additionally claiming an important dash win at Brno.
Whereas the lack of factors has been important, he’s assured that he can have a chance to get better misplaced floor: “If I contemplate 40 factors [lost], I am 63 [points behind], [which is] not unhealthy. It may have been higher, nevertheless it’s what it’s.
“I already perceive in lots of conditions in my profession that factors are factors and you may regain what you misplaced. It is what it’s.”
The place Bagnaia’s 40-point estimate comes from
Race
Place earlier than DNF
Reason behind DNF
Estimated factors loss
Spanish GP
Ninth
Brake
7
French GP
Second
Crash*
20
Dutch GP
Fourth
Technical**
13
* “Small problem” contributed to crash**precise trigger not disclosed
Whereas not fairly on the identical stage as a few of his Ducati stablemates, together with his team-mate Marc Marquez, Bagnaia has carried out constantly properly in current rounds, a stark distinction to the combined kind that blighted his 2025 marketing campaign.
Nevertheless, a string of non-scores has left him 63 factors behind championship chief Jorge Martin and 47 factors adrift of Ducati’s high performer Fabio di Giannantonio.
On the Spanish GP, he was operating in ninth place when he retired simply after the midway level because of what was described as a brake drawback.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Crew
Picture by: Gold and Goose Pictures / Getty Photographs
Nevertheless, he suffered a fair greater disappointment two weeks later when he crashed out of second place on the French GP. Whereas Bagnaia admitted that he was overambitious, he additionally pointed to an unspecified technical problem that dented his confidence and contributed to his fall.
His most puzzling retirement got here at Assen, the place Bagnaia slowed down immediately whereas operating in fourth place. Whether or not it was associated to the brake problem that affected him at Jerez and Le Mans stays unclear, with Bagnaia refusing to elaborate on the trigger.
It’s unimaginable to know the place Bagnaia would finally have completed in every of these races. But when his operating place on the time of retirement is taken as the ultimate consequence, the factors misplaced add as much as precisely 40, supporting the estimate he cited forward of this weekend’s German GP race.
Other than three rounds, Bagnaia additionally crashed out of the Brazilian GP in April whereas operating inside the highest 10, though that retirement was unrelated to the technical points he referenced.
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