Gigi Dall’Igna on Pecco Bagnaia frustration: "I've lost my patience too, it’s normal”

Francesco Bagnaia’s hopes of salvaging some “light” from a “nightmare” home Misano MotoGP weekend were snuffed out with an early crash in the grand prix.

“I'm living a nightmare and I just want to raise my head up just to see some light,” Bagnaia said on Saturday, after 13th place in a Sprint that, once again, he would have won if he had repeated last year’s GP24 race time.

Traditionally, Bagnaia has found improvements from Sprint to Grand Prix thanks to the full size fuel tank and believed a top five might be possible on Sunday.

The reality was far bleaker.

While factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez battled Marco Bezzecchi for the lead, and eventually won, Bagnaia’s race ended on lap nine when he lost the front of his GP25 at Turn 10, while holding seventh.

The double world champion looked distraught after the race, when Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna was quizzed by Sky Italia.

"The situation is definitely delicate with Pecco; he's struggling. As I've said many times before, we'll have to find a way out,” Dall’Igna said. “Tomorrow we have a test, an important day where we'll have the chance to try out many things. So let's hope it's a fruitful test."

Asked about Bagnaia’s recent comments suggesting he is 'losing patience', Dall’Igna responded candidly:

"I've lost my patience too, and Pecco's fans have lost their patience too. It seems quite normal to me that someone can say these things when results aren't coming. I think it's normal; we're all human, and we always have to start from this assumption."

While team-mate Marquez stands on the verge of title glory, Bagnaia’s season has gone downhill. The #63 is without a podium for the past five rounds (ten races) with no tangible progress towards addressing his season-long corner entry woes on the GP25.

"It's very simple: once the negative spiral begins, it always goes downward,” explained Dall’Igna. “So finding a way to reverse it is always complicated. What I always say is that positivity helps a lot in this."

"I don't know what you want me to say"

Speaking to Dorna later on Sunday evening, Bagnaia said: "Honestly, I don't know what you want me to say. You could see what happened. I was trying and I just crashed. 

"I analysed things with the team and now we are working for tomorrow's test, which will be important."

Asked what was going through his mind immediately after the accident, Bagnaia replied: "Things it's better not to say on TV. In any case, the first moment when you crash, you are not very happy."

Bagnaia’s second non-scoring weekend after Le Mans - when he was taken down in a wet race - means he has now dropped 93 points behind Alex Marquez in the battle for runner-up. He is just eight points ahead of Aprilia’s Bezzecchi.

Monday’s official Misano test offers the last chance this season for Ducati and Bagnaia to experiment with bike set-up and new parts outside of a grand prix weekend.

 "We will try to find some solutions tomorrow, but it still feels like a long way, because we've been struggling since the start of the season," Bagnaia said.