Pecco Bagnaia clawed his way from 21st to seventh in Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix, but the reigning double world champion is keeping his guard up, warning he won’t give himself “false hope” until Misano.
The Ducati star had arrived in Barcelona believing a radical set-up change at Balaton Park could resurrect his form and put him back in the fight at the front. Instead, it backfired. He slumped to a miserable 21st on the grid — his worst in three years — and was a full second off teammate Marc Marquez in Saturday’s sprint.
On Sunday, however, the script flipped. Bagnaia rocketed from 21st to 12th on the opening lap, then charged to seventh by the chequered flag, salvaging pride from a chaotic weekend in Spain.
Yet he’s refusing to let that turnaround trick him into thinking the tide has turned.
“I don’t want to give myself any more false hopes,” he told Sky Italy.
“In the end, I was very confident that I’d arrive here after Balaton and feel right at home, but instead it was one of the most complicated weekends ever.
“Not just this year, but in my career with the factory Ducati.”
“I’m coming to Misano as cautiously as possible, trying to keep the pressure off because we know how unique a track it is. There’s a lot of grip, but you have to be in good shape, so I don’t want to give myself or anyone else false hopes. We’ll go there cautiously and try to do our best.”
Bagnaia credited Sunday’s stronger form — at a track he won twice last year — to a swingarm change combined with the extra grip of running the full race fuel tank.
“In terms of feeling, I felt a little better today,” he said.
“In the end, I managed to get a little more grip this morning thanks to the swingarm, but also thanks to the large fuel tank. That little bit of extra grip gave me the confidence to go into the corners faster without the constant movement that bothered me all weekend.”
“I felt better this morning. In the race, I started really strong and managed to overtake, which is never easy this year, so that was positive. Unfortunately, to get back ahead of [Fabio] Quartararo, I pushed a little too hard and wasn’t able to manage the rear tyre; he was better at managing it, and in the final laps I was struggling more.”
“However, starting from 21st place, there can be a thousand unknowns. Finishing higher than seventh today was possible because the goal could have been fifth place. But you can never expect too much starting from there.”
