Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia says that his crash at Misano was “out of our control” and has blamed Michelin for another tyre issue in MotoGP.
Bagnaia had been overtaken by both championship leader Jorge Martin and eventual race winner Enea Bastianini in the early stages of the Misano race after mistakes from the Italian.
However, he looked to be getting back on terms with the duo after setting consecutive race lap records, but lost the front on Lap 7 at Turn 8 and crashed out of his 100th GP.
“After the start, I said ‘OK, I can set my pace and I can control the gap’,” Bagnaia told MotoGP.com
“I was losing a lot of time in all the accelerations. I’d lost the rear in the warm-up lap in the last corner, then I lost the rear in the first lap in corner 13.
“The rear tyre started to work after 15 laps, something incredible!
“I was already having some issues with the front locking since the start of the race so even when the rear tyre started to perform with 15 laps in and set the fastest lap of the race two times in a row, I still tried to be as careful as possible, especially under braking,” he said.
“I started to push, but without using too much the front because I wasn’t having a good feeling with the front,”
“I was braking 18 or 20 metres earlier than on my fastest lap and I lost the front without angle.”
Bagnaia puts blame on Michelin after Misano crash
Bagnaia was quick to find a source of blame for his crash in Misano, and said that the Michelin tyres had once again cost him a good result in the race.
The Ducati rider also referenced Aragon, where he struggled with a tyre issue during the sprint but said that it could “happen to others” at some point too.
“It’s impossible to lose the front like this if you are in dry conditions.
“Everything was quite strange today, but it happened to us twice in the last three Grand Prix, so maybe it will happen to others in the next one.
“You work very hard. You are the fastest, the strongest. You know that your potential is to win the races.
“And then for something that is out of our control, you do results like this,”
“It’s easy to say that I could have finished third, but when you have your potential, when you have your pace and you are in control with your pace and then you crash… It’s a shame.
“So I’m very frustrated and angry for that because it cannot happen in our championship. But it is what it is.”
“We will work again like always. And we will try to win, but surely sometimes we need a bit of luck.”
