Pecco Bagnaia crashes, credits Marc Marquez for “hiding” their mutual problem

The red flag in the British MotoGP changed Francesco Bagnaia’s race, as the three-time World Champion went from feeling “good” to as though “nothing worked”.

Bagnaia was second behind Fabio Quartararo when the red flag came out in the first start after a crash for Marc Marquez.

But a change of rear tyre for the restart left the Ducati Lenovo Team rider with a worse feeling, Bagnaia ultimately crashing out at turn seven.

“[At the beginning of the race] my feeling was good,” Bagnaia said after the British Grand Prix.

“I started not very good, but after the crash of Marc [Marquez] I was there with Fabio [Quartararo], opening the gap to the guy behind, my feeling was good with the rear tyre, the grip was good.

“Then we stopped for the red flag.

“We just changed the rear tyre, put in a new one, and from that moment nothing worked again.

“I was sliding and spinning everywhere, no traction, everyone was overtaking me. I lost the rear in turn nine, went wide.”

Pecco Bagnaia explains British MotoGP crash

Explaining his crash, Bagnaia said: “Entering turn seven, I just tried to lean, and I lost the rear and then I crashed. It was already a difficult situation, but with a problem like this it’s worse.”

Bagnaia added that he had no explanation for his problem: “I don’t know why, but my situation was this one. It was difficult even to make lean angle on my bike because as soon as I was reaching 58 or 59 degrees was starting to spin with the rear, so it was really strange.”

He added that Alex Marquez, who crashed out of the first start and said that he had “no confidence” in the second one, would’ve won the race comfortably.

“We have to say that Alex [Marquez], without the crash in the first start, was winning the race with a hand behind [his back], he was much faster than everybody else,” Bagnaia said.

“Then he crashed and [after the red flag] he needed to use the [second] bike – it’s not helping for the feeling.”

Further, Bagnaia said that the problem encountered by the factory Ducati riders all weekend, which had hampered him in particular in regard to front feeling, was hidden by Marc Marquez; but noted also that, without Quartararo’s retirement in the second start, the British GP would have been the first for a while where a Ducati was not on the podium.

“Marc [Marquez] was hiding the problem that we had all weekend: he did a fantastic job,” Bagnaia said.

“But we have to say that it’s the first race after I don’t know how many that a Ducati wasn’t on the podium – without the problem of Fabio [Quartararo].

“It’s something to reflect on and I know perfectly how my team and engineers are working to find a solution because others are improving and we are stuck, or even going worse. So, we need to do a step.”