Bagnaia: Yamaha proving ‘top speed is not everything’

That’s also the direction Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia is now seeking, putting an emphasis on handling over top speed and meaning the Italian is unsure if he will race a new fairing brought to Monday’s Catalunya test.

Bagnaia, eliminated at the first corner of Sunday’s race, returned to complete 80 laps of the Barcelona circuit, his best just 0.004s slower than Yamaha’s race winner Fabio Quartararo.

“I tested some different items and the biggest was the fairing,” Bagnaia said. “The fairing worked quite well. I'm quite happy with it, but it's just to test for now. I don't know if we will see it this year or not.

“It can help us not to lose too much handling, but have more top speed. So something that could help.

“But we can also think that this year I'm preferring to have less top speed, but more handling. That is the main thing now. Yamaha is the perfect example of that.”

The 2021 title runner-up, who has now slipped 66 points from reigning world champion Quartararo, added:

“In this moment they [Yamaha and Quartararo] have more handling and we can also see clearly that the top speed is not everything. This year we have improved a lot [but] still we need more edge grip like Yamaha has. So we are working on it.”

While Bagnaia is prepared to sacrifice some of the Desmosedici's record top speed to reduce Yamaha’s cornering advantage, at least in the hands of Quartararo, the Frenchman (who scored 45 out of 50 points despite the long straights at Mugello and Barcelona) is looking from the other direction, urging Yamaha to find more top speed for 2023.

Jack Miller: ‘Like a different bike’

Bagnaia's team-mate Jack Miller - who struggled with inconsistent tyre performance during the grand prix weekend, including a slump to 14th in the race - was back on form with the sixth fastest lap (+0.295s) at the test.

“A lot better today. Like riding a different bike,” he said.

“We swapped rear wheels and it was fantastic. I rode the exact same bike I rode in the race this morning and was doing ‘39s consistently. Then once the tyres got a few laps on them, dropped into the ‘40s. But it's normal.

“The pace immediately this morning was fast and I felt comfortable on the bike. The medium [tyre] I put on through the middle of the day wasn't ideal, but the other two were fantastic. Able to stay in the ‘40s despite coming in, going back out and whatnot.

“We played around with setup. I think we've got ourselves pretty comfortable. It's difficult to say, there's always a lot more rubber down [at a test].

“We tested [the new] fairing, which has its positives and negatives…. [the current fairing] turns better, it catches less wind. Whereas the [new] bigger fairing is like in-between last year's fairing and this year’s fairing. You don't catch as much wind on your body, but you sacrifice maybe a little bit in the corner.

“That's why I mean it's got positives and negatives. It can work for some places and then maybe other places not.”

Miller, hotly linked with a move to KTM next season, is ninth in the world championship.