Pecco Bagnaia in difficulty
“Until two years ago, Barcelona was my circuit, now the situation has changed”, admitted Pecco Bagnaia honestly at the end of Friday of the Catalonia Grand Prix, the sixth weekend of the 2026 season. The Italian Ducati rider finished the Practice in 12th place, missing the top 10 and the consequent direct access to Q1 on Saturday morning by 8 hundredths.
Bagnaia at Montmelò used to make the difference in tire management and bring a lot of speed in the corner, now it is no longer like that: “The situation is not as serious as on other occasions this year. But there is a lot of work to do, a lot to understand. We lack a lot of grip, judging by the gaps from the other Ducatis.”
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What is not working?
Yes, because the two Ducatis that preceded him today had a few tenths in their pocket compared to the 1’39.060 set by Bagnaia: Di Giannantonio was 6th in 1’38.819 and Alex Marquez 2nd in 1’38.728.
Pecco explained: “The others seem to have more grip because, when they accelerate, the bike slips less. I slide a lot and have no traction. We know what we have to work on and this is a good thing. Understanding why it happens is not simple, because the bike’s balance here is a bit unusual.”
In particular, Bagnaia cannot explain why some Ducatis manage to be consistently competitive: “I feel like Alex Marquez last weekend. At Jerez he dominated, at Le Mans he struggled a lot. We have many ups and downs. Di Giannantonio, on the other hand, manages to maintain consistency. We have to understand why”, he concluded in statements reported by Motorsport.
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