“Not an easy summer” for Francesco Bagnaia after surprise surgery

An underwhelming first half of the 2026 MotoGP season was followed quickly by “not an easy summer break”, he says, after undergoing surgery for arm pump.

Bagnaia underwent the surgery soon after the German MotoGP that brought the first half of the season to a close in early July.

The Italian says he had to “work a lot” during the break between Germany and this weekend’s British Grand Prix in order to recover the condition of his arm.

“I think it wasn’t an easy summer break: I had to work a lot on the arm,” Francesco Bagnaia said ahead of the British MotoGP.

“I think it was impacting me less, but it was quite tough as an operation. I had to work a lot, I had just four days of rest and every day in the gym was intense. 

“But I think we worked well and we are almost ready to fight for it. Let’s see.”

The Italian hadn’t mentioned arm pump during the first half of the season as a problem, but this, he says, is a part of his character.

“If you know me, I’m not a guy that likes to give bad information like this to the camera,” he explained.

“I never had that problem with my arms during all my career – never. This year, that we are having some issues on our bike, I needed to.”

Bagnaia continued, saying his issues with arm pump started at the Spanish Grand Prix, although he clarified that it was not the reason for his retirement there.

“I started having the problem in Jerez, when I needed to stop – it wasn’t for the arm, but for a problem,” he said.

“Every time we didn’t solve this issue, and my arm was getting inflamed more and more, so I needed to do it.”

Among the members of the VR46 Riders Academy, Bagnaia is one of only two riders to have undergone arm pump surgery, the other being Celestino Vietti, but he says that during training he is one of the riders with “less problems”.

“Honestly I was the one with less problems at home,” he said.

“But riding this year is really intense so I needed to.”

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider was able to ride twice after the operation before going to Silverstone.

“I had two sessions,” he said. “The first one I wasn’t able to ride, I just did two laps and then I stopped. 

“Then the second one I did 30 laps and was a bit better and it was 10 days ago. So, I hope it has improved. 

“Riding a MotoGP is completely different compared to riding a Panigale, but I have to say that on braking the Panigale is more difficult because you have to use more force. 

“So, let’s see. Maybe for the first time I will use some painkillers.”

Focusing more specifically on the Silverstone weekend, Bagnaia added some apprehension about his potential at the British Grand Prix from a technical standpoint.

“It’s a difficult track, but it’s also one of my favourites, so let’s see,” he said.

“I just really know how important is the setup here, how important it is to have rear grip, and it’s my main issue this season. 

“So, we just need to work on that and hope that Ducati during the summer break improved my situation.”