"Totally disrespectful" - Pecco Bagnaia slams broadcaster as he clarifies Ducati MotoGP comments

Pecco Bagnaia has slammed MotoGP broadcaster DAZN for being “totally disrespectful” after it released video of an off-camera conversation where he appears to criticise Ducati.

The double world champion is in the middle of a torrid run of form, having crashed out of the last three grands prix as he struggles with a mystifying rear grip issue.

After the San Marino Grand Prix, footage released by DAZN of a conversation between Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio caused a stir, as the former claimed Ducati “won’t let me” make specific set-up changes.

On Thursday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Bagnaia has slammed DAZN for this and clarified what he meant after claiming his words were taken out of context.

“I think many times what was asked to me was, ‘Is the team supporting you?’ And I always said yes - the team is doing the maximum to help me,” Bagnaia began.

“After saying that, what happened in the last race in Misano, for me, was a totally disrespectful thing by DAZN.

“But it is what it is. The video, the recording, was out of context. We were speaking about a thing, not completely secretly, but in private because we were speaking there.

“But it’s out of context, because the video is not complete. Surely, the last word I said was not the correct one, but everybody has difficult moments, everybody has frustrations.

“And sometimes you say things in the wrong way.

“But what I always said is that Ducati has supported me a lot, and what I was meaning to say was that I removed the things many times already, which Ducati is not allowing me to do any more but because I’ve already done it many times.

“And I don’t want to continue this kind of thing.

“What came out from my mouth was in the wrong way, but then what happened next is a disaster for me because it’s completely out of respect and the relationship between journalists and riders needs to have respect.

“And I think I’ve always been very kind with all of you, never been rude, never said anything wrong, trying to have a good relationship with everybody because I know how important it is to have a good relationship with the journalists because you are the ones who speak to the world for us.

“And what happened, for me, is not correct.”

“The relationship with the team is good”

Bagnaia went on to suggest that he now be less forthcoming with the media, following the DAZN incident, while insisting his relationship with Ducati remains strong.

“It’s clear that you [the media]. can take our words and put them online in the way you want, because you can say three words and have two completely different contexts - positively or negatively,” he said.

“You are the ones who need to be transparent on that and understand what we are saying.

“But, I know that sometimes it’s important to have a nice clickbait title, because it works like this.

“But I always try to be as transparent as possible, but I will try to do less, and in the future you will maybe have less from me.”

He added: “Absolutely [Ducati understands my point of view] because yesterday we spoke about it.

“It’s normal that in the way it came from television looks terrible.

“But they have also the interviews of the Fridays and Sundays, and what I said in those interviews is that Ducati is supporting me.

“So, they know what I’m saying, they know that I’m not completely crazy.

“I said sorry for the words that I said, but also I know how important how the relationship is and our relationship continues to be good. So, nothing different to the past.”