The 31-point gap to MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez is already weighing on his Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia - who admits he faces a "long journey" to claw it back.
Of the venues that have hosted the first two grands prix of the season, neither Buriram nor Termas de Rio Hondo are favourable for Bagnaia - and, in fact, the latter has a claim for being his worst track in MotoGP.
But even with that in mind and an apparent realism about having to play second fiddle to Marquez at places like these, Bagnaia has now admitted he's already not leaving himself a lot of margin to recover.
"It’s true that this is not the worst situation I’ve been in. Last year was worse, the first part," he said, referencing some early-2024 struggles with mistakes and rear tyre vibration before Ducati fully got on top of the new Michelin rear tyre, from which point on Bagnaia always had the speed (if not the results).
"The difference is this season I have a rival who is more consistent - and Marc will not make any mistakes.
"Already recovering 31 points is a long journey. And we have to consider that the next one is Austin, where he is strong. So we have to solve it as soon as possible and then try to catch all the points back."
Bagnaia said he was "expecting more from myself" on Sunday but struggled for pace.
"It’s true that I wasn’t that far from the first two riders, because every lap I was just a tenth, a tenth and a half, slower in the first part of the race,” he said. “But it was enough to lose there."
He also felt he'd lost time in fighting Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli, but wasn't convinced even a third place was ever really on the table.
"The thing is to be back to my feeling. Because my feeling makes me fight for a win, not fight for a fourth place.
"Fourth is not my place. Even third is not my place.
"We have to be focused, we have to have the mindset of my speed because it’s not that one. We know how fast we can be and knowing that, we have to work to solve our problems."
Bagnaia has started the season with what he described as a Ducati Desmosedici 'GP24.9' - an upgraded spec but without the biggest new-for-2025 aspects (engine, chassis, aero) that were put aside in the pre-season.
But at Termas he pivoted to running a 'GP24.7' - and coming out of it he hinted he may well need to just go to last year's spec.
"It’s true that we did a step in front in the weekend but I was still missing something - the control of the rear tyre, something that it’s strange that I am not having considering the bike is similar to last year.
"So maybe for the next one I will go completely back to last year [specification] because at the moment it’s a bit strange, my feeling. We keep working but we need to solve it."
"The control of the rear tyre" seemingly refers to it sliding on corner entry, and Bagnaia was also particularly limited during the weekend in the longer corners with throttle. He had said he was losing huge amounts of laptime to Marquez in Turn 11, and to the other Marquez - Alex - in Turn 6.
He said that he had to "take the positives" of at least improving somewhat in-weekend, and admitted that he didn't have a great answer for why he hasn't clicked with Termas - a track with a fast corner-speed-oriented layout not unlike Bagnaia's beloved Assen, but with much less grip on offer.
"I don't know why this track is always putting me in this struggle, because I'm always struggling to be competitive here. It's an easy track, it's a track that suits well to my riding style - but every time I'm struggling in the same places, and even if I'm trying everything to do different things it's always the same situation. I will never give up and we’ll continue working because I know my potential is higher."
