Bagnaia: We accepted the risk, my mistake, something strange happening

Francesco Bagnaia’s Indian MotoGP mistake has blown the 2023 title race wide open.

24 Sep 2023

Francesco Bagnaia, after crash, MotoGP race, Indian MotoGP 24 September

Disaster struck for Bagnaia just as he looked to have finally got the better of Sprint winner and title rival Jorge Martin, losing the front of his factory Ducati at Turn 5 on lap 14 of 21.

Visibly frustrated as he walked away, Bagnaia had been the only rider to use the hard rather than medium front tyre.

“We accepted the risk to race with the harder compound because with the medium front tyre, we don't know honestly why, but I was not feeling like all the other Ducatis,” Bagnaia told MotoGP.com.

“I was struggling a lot. I was having a lot of front locking and it was a problem for the race because we wanted to fight, to be in the front and with the medium I was not having that possibility.

“So we accepted the risk to race with other [hard] one. And until that moment, I was feeling great. My bike was shaking like all the weekend. We never found a solution for that, but we were more competitive and I was fighting against Jorge. That was very important.

“But when I overtook him, I got to corner 5 and as soon as the rear tyre came back from the slide, it pushed a bit the front tyre and I lost it. But [the hard front] was the only possibility to fight against them. And like I said, we accepted the risk.

“My mistake. I already said sorry to the team. It was important absolutely to finish the race. Also, considering what happened after my crash. But it's something that can happen when you are too on the limit.”

Bagnaia: 'Something strange is happening'

Bagnaia then revealed that his usual braking strength has been strangely missing since Misano, forcing him to ride more on the limit just to keep up.

“We already know something is happening on our bike because my strongest point was always the braking and it’s not my strongest point anymore,” he said. “I'm struggling a lot there. My bike is shaking too much and something strange is happening.

“I'm not worried because I know that my team will find a solution. We already spoke yesterday night and it was impossible to find it for today. But we know where to concentrate to understand the problem.

“So for Japan we will work, we will understand it and we will solve it.”

Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, MotoGP race, Indian MotoGP 24 September

Finding a solution will be crucial with the reigning champion’s fifth race fall of the season having big consequences for his title lead, which has been slashed to just 13 points with seven rounds remaining.

Martin has now taken points off Bagnaia at the last five races but it could have been worse, with Marco Bezzecchi’s runaway victory denying the Pramac rider the full 25 points on offer.

“We never give up and we will fight back because we want this championship like always,” Bagnaia said. “We want to win and our positions is at the top. So we want to be back there.”

Meanwhile, an exhausted Martin was lucky to keep second place after a last-lap scare with Fabio Quartararo.

Asked if he felt Martin should have had a penalty for having his leathers unzipped during the race, Bagnaia replied: “I'm not the guy to ask. I don't know what normally happens with these kind of things. For sure it was not safety, but I don't know.”