Bagnaia sinks at Silverstone, crisis with Ducati: "We don't know what to do"

Silverstone turns out to be Pecco Bagnaia’s worst weekend of this MotoGP season. Out of the points in the Sprint, he crashed on lap nine in the long race, confirming the grip issues that have plagued him for some time. 2026 is proving disastrous for the rider from Piedmont, who can’t wait to start his new adventure with Aprilia.

The British GP was a nightmare from the very first steps on Friday. 16th on the starting grid due to grip problems he couldn’t solve in any way. Nothing doing for the #63-branded Ducati Desmosedici: no positive reaction, no step forward over the three days on British soil. In Sunday’s race he gained a few positions thanks to retirements by other riders, but his pace was far from what was needed to get close to the top 10.

The incident happened on lap nine. Bagnaia lost the front on corner exit and went down. Back in the pits he tried to analyze the situation with his team, but without finding answers. “Really strange, honestly. I had never lost the front on corner exit before,” Bagnaia explained after stepping off the GP26. “Looking at the data, it’s very difficult to understand anything. The only thing is that I completely lost the front in a fraction of a second.”

A MotoGP weekend to forget for Pecco, nothing went as planned. After all, Silverstone has always proved to be a tricky circuit for Ducati, with those flowing corners that highlight Aprilia’s strengths. But the rider from Chivasso fell far below every expectation, a moral slap to his professionalism. “We have to get out of this situation, because I don’t want another weekend like this,” Bagnaia continued. The Ducati technicians’ attempts to tweak his bike during the Grand Prix were useless. “I changed everything. The setup, the electronics. But the problem isn’t there.”

In truth, the lack of grip has afflicted him since the first round of this 2026 Championship; at Silverstone the problem only got worse. “Since the first race of the season I’ve had no grip, absolutely none,” he stated. A declaration that, however, clashes with the results of his brand-mates, starting with Marc Marquez. The VR46 Academy pupil is aware of this. “We don’t know what to do, because there are other Ducati riders who have a lot to offer. So it’s hard to understand.”

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