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Francesco Bagnaia left trailing: “We need to understand what Alex is doing differently”

After a mixed qualifying session, Francesco Bagnaia managed to finish 7th in the Sachsenring Sprint. He played no part in the battle for a podium place, but struggled with an understeering Ducati GP26.

MotoGP

12.07.2026 - 08:28

This article is an automatically generated English version. The Original Article was published in German.

Ducati-Werksfahrer Bagnaia: Platz 7 über die kurze Distanz
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Qualifying did not go smoothly for Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia. The Italian had to go through Q1, and in Q2 he could only manage 11th on the grid – the fourth row. As Marco Bezzecchi broke his collarbone in a crash at Turn 7 and missed the rest of the Sachsenring weekend, Bagnaia moved up to 10th place on the Sprint grid.

Bagnaia got off to a flying start, but then got stuck

By the end of the first lap, Bagnaia had already overtaken Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Pedro Acosta (KTM) and returned from the first lap in seventh place. He held onto this position right until the chequered flag. At the front, his team-mates Marc and Alex Márquez, along with Fabio Di Giannantonio, were in a league of their own. The Aprilia riders Raúl Fernández and Jorge Martín were within reach, but Bagnaia couldn’t close the gap.

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When asked about his race, Bagnaia made no secret of his problems: “I’m really struggling with grip, which is particularly tough when you’re trying to set a fast lap.” He said the start had gone well and that he’d tried to follow the riders in front of him. “But as soon as the rear tyre started to wear out, I had to put more weight on the front. I couldn’t slide into the corners like my other Ducati teammates; I lacked grip. As soon as I got the bike to slide, I could no longer accelerate effectively,” lamented the 29-year-old.

Bagnaia is certain: he wouldn’t have managed better than sixth place.

Another problem, he said, was that he was struggling with understeer. This made things particularly difficult in the last five or six laps: “I tried everything to catch up with Martin. I had to cut my losses and settle for seventh place. For me, sixth place was perhaps the best I could have hoped for today,” said the winner of the 2024 Sachsenring GP.

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When asked whether the medium-compound tyres on Sunday would make a difference, Bagnaia was sceptical. The key is that he can slide in a controlled manner, particularly through the left-hand corners. A look at the data from the top three Ducatis has shown that Alex Marquez, in particular, is better supported by his bike: “If we can understand and replicate what Alex is doing, we can be more competitive.” Still, if Bagnaia can repeat his performance in the GP race, the two-time world champion could overtake Pedro Acosta in the World Championship standings. The gap is now down to just two points.

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