Ducati boss fumes at “underwhelming” Pecco Bagnaia in Austria MotoGP

Ducati boss Gigi Dall’Igna has branded Pecco Bagnaia’s MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix “underwhelming” and fumed at the “wasted opportunity”.

The double world champion has been the rider to beat at the Red Bull Ring in the previous three years, with his last two Austrian Grand Prix victories coming in dominant fashion.

Quick throughout the weekend, save for a tyre issue thwarting his sprint, Pecco Bagnaia was being tipped by Ducati team-mate and eventual Austrian Grand Prix winner Marc Marquez as the main threat for Sunday.

But, after a quick start in which he ran as high as second in a battle with Marquez, Bagnaia rapidly dropped off the pace.

At the end of the 28-lap grand prix, he was eighth and 12.4s off Marquez.

Bagnaia was at a loss to explain why his form was so poor in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Dall’Igna didn’t take a light approach with Bagnaia, either, when speaking to Sky Italy after the race.

“Every race that passes is a wasted opportunity to improve,” he said.

“He had a good weekend during all the practice sessions.

“Yesterday, he had a problem that we have to analyse, but his race was definitely underwhelming today.”

Bagnaia has generally struggled all season to find form on the GP25, with its braking characteristics at odds with his riding style.

Prior to the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, he noted that he saw “nothing comparable” with his riding now to what he was doing in previous years after watching back his old races.

Speaking to DAZN after Sunday’s race, Bagnaia admitted his patience is wearing thin.

“I’m always focused, I’ve never lost my head,” he said.

“But today I couldn’t accelerate, everyone was overtaking me coming out of the corners.

“I hope Ducati can explain this to me, because I’m running out of patience.”

Heading to next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Bagnaia is now 197 points off the championship lead and is 55 down in the battle for second with Alex Marquez.