Pecco Bagnaia “trying everything” to solve MotoGP Sprint issues: “It’s my problem”

After slumping to fifth in the Dutch MotoGP Sprint, Francesco Bagnaia says he is “trying everything” to improve, but continues to encounter familiar issues.

Since the Sprint was introduced in 2023, Bagnaia has regularly struggled more in the shorter distance races than in the full-distance Sunday races – despite also having won nine Sprints in the past two seasons.

It’s a disparity between the two race formats that, at the end of last season, Bagnaia began to blame on a change of feeling from the bike caused by the smaller fuel tank used for the MotoGP Sprint compared to the full-size tank for the full-length race.

Despite having worked to improve his potential in Sprints, Bagnaia says he is still “trying every time to do something more” but doesn’t “know how” to solve his Saturday afternoon struggles.

“I’m always trying to understand why, in the Sprint races, [I’m struggling],” Francesco Bagnaia told MotoGP.com after the Sprint in Assen.

“I know why I’m struggling, the team know why I’m struggling – the fuel tank is something that is changing a lot my feeling on the bike.

“I know that it’s my problem; that, if someone needs to improve, it’s me.

“But I don’t know how.

“I’m trying everything. I’m trying every time to do something more.”

Reflecting specifically on his 13-lap race in Assen, Bagnaia explained, again, that his lack of feeling in the Sprint prevented him from overtaking, even though he felt he was “faster” than the riders ahead of him.

“Today, I started not so well, and then I was stuck behind again, so it’s always the same ‘CD’ and I don’t know what to do to change this situation,” the Ducati Lenovo Team rider said.

“For the first time this season, I can complain more [about] this than other problems, so it’s more similar to last year and I know that tomorrow will change the situation – I can start better, and I’m quite sure, 100 per cent, that, if the situation [is the same one as today], I have the chance to overtake.

“So, let’s be calm, let’s try to work.

“Today, the maximum was unluckily a P5. The thing [that is] worse is that I was faster than the guys in front of me but I was unable, again, to overtake.”

In contrast to Bagnaia's struggles, his teammate, Marc Marquez took his ninth Sprint win of the season from 10 starts, while Alex Marquez maintained his 100 per cent top-two record in Sprints with a second-placed finish. 

Indeed, Marco Bezzecchi's third place for Aprilia in the Assen Sprint marked the first time in 2025 that a non-Ducati rider had finishedon the podium in a Saturday race.