Claudio Domenicali insists that he is concerned about Francesco Bagnaia’s situation – something fundamental is wrong, as demonstrated in the wet Sachsenring sprint
Francesco Bagnaia is 147 championship points behind his Ducati teammate Marc Marquez after eleven race weekends. While the Spaniard is riding from success to success, Bagnaia can’t find a way out of his crisis.
He finished twelfth in the wet Sachsenring sprint. In the dry Grand Prix, he finished third, but several riders ahead of him had crashed. “This year, it seems to matter whether I start at the front or the back – I always finish third, but it doesn’t do me any good,” he shakes his head.
Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali was at the Sachsenring, standing in for Gigi Dall’Igna, who was celebrating his 59th birthday at home in Italy. Domenicali studied in Bologna and is a trained engineer. He has been with Ducati since 1991 and has worked his way up through the ranks.
As an engineer, can he understand Bagnaia’s difficulties? “If I knew exactly what the problem was and had a solution, I would have given advice long ago,” Domenicali told Sky Italia. “So obviously it’s not that simple.”
“The guys brought him a new frame at the Sachsenring to give him a different riding feel and change certain elements. But when it comes to feeling, a lot of things are not clear-cut; you can’t measure everything.”
“That’s why you have to try out changes until you find a direction, and then start again from there – that’s exactly what the guys are doing right now.” Bagnaia only did comparison tests with a different chassis on Friday. He may try that again in upcoming races.
Unlike Marc Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia has stuck with the aerodynamic package from the start of the season. He doesn’t want to introduce too many variables in his search for a better feel for the front wheel.
Nevertheless, the gap in the wet sprint was a bitter defeat. “He complained about things that are too serious – as if something fundamental isn’t working,” said Domenicali about this disappointing Saturday. The gap speaks for itself.”
“‘Pecco’ is someone who won the last rain race. So something’s not right there. What you can perhaps say is that if you have a base you trust and you don’t change much between races or conditions, you have more confidence in all situations.”
“These constant tests to find new solutions don’t exactly help to build confidence. But if you don’t have that confidence, you end up chasing your tail. Pecco’s situation always worries us a little.”
Everyone continues to emphasize that they are backing Bagnaia and working together to find solutions – so far with limited success. The Italian himself also speaks of a good relationship with the team and with boss Domenicali.
“He’s very much on my side,” Bagnaia emphasizes. “We talk a lot after every race. He wants to know everything. He’s an engineer, so he wants to understand things. After the race, he came over to me just to give me a little boost – I really appreciated that.”
“But I want – just like him – to fight for the top positions again, as I have always done as a factory rider.” The action continues this weekend in Brno. The last time the track was used in 2020, Bagnaia broke his left leg in a crash during the first practice session.
