Francesco Bagnaia "disappointed and upset", “tried to do things the bike doesn’t allow me to do”

Francesco Bagnaia was left frustrated and confused after a tough German MotoGP Sprint, where he qualified 11th and finished 12th, over 20 seconds behind race-winning Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez.

While Marquez produced another masterclass to take pole and charge from fifth to first in the wet 15-lap race, Bagnaia was unable to find any confidence or pace from the GP25.

The Italian, who won last year’s wet Thai Grand Prix, lost between 0.792s and 2.285s per lap to Marquez.

“Unfortunately, I can’t seem to be competitive and I’m very disappointed with today and with my performance, because I’m unable to be effective,” said the defending German Grand Prix winner.

“I tried to do things that the bike apparently doesn’t allow me to do.”

Despite a major setup change between qualifying and the Sprint, Bagnaia said the team’s direction backfired.

“Today, we tried to make a significant change between qualifying and the race, and it actually made things worse.

“From the post-race debrief, it’s clear that I lack confidence at the front end, while the rear slides a lot.

“Let’s hope that by taking a different direction, we can turn things around for tomorrow.”

“Hard to understand”

Reflecting on his commanding wet Buriram 2024 victory over eventual champion Jorge Martin, Bagnaia admits the loss of wet form at the Sachsenring is baffling.

However, he suggested the slippery conditions may have "amplified" his much-publicised front-end problems in the dry.

“I'm very disappointed and upset because I won the last race I did in the wet last year, and this year I'm not being competitive,” Bagnaia told Sky Italia.

“It's hard to understand because we don't know why.

“I can't be fast, in general, this year I have a poor feeling with the bike, and when you ride in the wet, this problem is amplified even more.

“It makes me very sad because I know I can do much more.”

He added: "I don't remember ever being so slow in MotoGP in the wet... It's hard to find a solution that probably won't come. If we don't manage it, we'll have another race 40 seconds behind the leader with no grip. 

"It's incredible how, going so slowly, I want to go faster into the corners but I'm at the mercy of what happens. I can't exploit my potential, as soon as I push, the rear goes away and I risk spinning.

"The only thing I can save is the start because I was able to react, otherwise I've always been slow."

Bagnaia also dismissed the idea that the time dedicated to Friday’s back-to-back chassis test was to blame.

“Yesterday has nothing to do with it,” he said. “The only correlation to yesterday in my performance is that, reading the comments of all the other Ducati riders, they all said the soft [slick] tyre in the dry gave them a lot of grip and pushed them on the front, while yesterday I also had little grip overall.

“This year it's a bit of a constant and it's hard to know where to look for it.”

While Bagnaia finished outside the points in the Sprint, Alex Marquez - riding with a hand injury - salvaged eighth place, extending his margin over Bagnaia for second in the standings to 60 points.

Better weather is forecast for Sunday.