A second successive sudden exit from a MotoGP grand prix while on for big points has led to reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia concluding his “incredible” Ducati Desmosedici GP23 may actually be “too stable”.
Two weeks on from hitting the deck while on course for a secure second place in the wet at Termas de Rio Hondo, Bagnaia fell out of the lead at the Circuit of the Americas.
He appeared to be breaking away from eventual winner Alex Rins in that moment – and indeed both Rins and second-place finisher Luca Marini suggested Bagnaia may have taken too tight a line through Turn 2 in the moments leading up to the crash.
Neither was sure, however, and the TV footage doesn’t make that immediately obvious. And Bagnaia, for his part, was left at a complete loss – and convinced the fall wasn’t a result of his mistake.
“I don’t know what happened,” he admitted.
“Sincerely, I did I don’t know how many laps this weekend – maybe 80, maybe 100 [the crash came on his 77th lap of the weekend].
“Pushing, controlling, understanding. [Never] lost the front during all the weekend. And then in the race, when I was in total control, I crashed.
“I’m very angry. Not with myself. Because I’m 100% sure it wasn’t my fault today. In Argentina, I recognised that I was a bit on the limit, for sure. But today, no.”
Bagnaia expressed confidence that it wasn’t a matter of a cold front tyre, nor wind – which he said was actually more of a help through that corner, especially compared to certain previous sessions.
The COTA fall was the latest in a series of Bagnaia crashes that came when he looked to be in a situation of pressure, or at least one where he was pushing particularly hard. But, like in many of those cases, he doesn’t believe that is at all linked.
“Something we have to understand from the bike. Because it’s true that our bike is the best. We have the best bike on the grid. But then if you crash, and you don’t know why, it’s useless.
“Because we lost 45 points in two weekends. So, we have to understand that.
“Maybe I’d prefer a more unstable bike, maybe I’d prefer to go one tenth slower, but to understand better everything. Because right now it’s very difficult.
“I feel unbeatable, I feel like I can do everything. Like today, I was going fast. But without taking any risk, without crazy things. I was entering very calm on Turn 2 because I was knowing that it was the most slippery. And I still crashed.
“So… I really hope that my team will help me on that. Because… I’m sure that the potential and the performance of the GP23 is incredible. Incredible. The best bike I’ve ever ridden. But… for the race we have to understand what is happening.”
Asked by The Race whether he simply wasn’t getting enough feedback from the bike, he said: “Maybe have too much ‘filter’ because it’s so stable. Maybe we have to lose a bit of this stability to lose a bit of ‘filter’.”
He later added: “I have a lot of confidence in my bike, but… it’s too stable, maybe. And this is something that – you can call me crazy for saying that. But in this moment I prefer to have more advice [feedback].”
