Ducati, sensational collapse in the Silverstone Sprint: what happened?

Impressive collapse by the Ducati riders in the second half of the Sprint Race at Silverstone: at the end of the day they tried to explain their feelings.

Ducati clearly defeated by Aprilia in the Sprint in Great Britain. Three RS-GP26s on the podium, while the best Desmosedici GP26 was Alex Marquez’s, fourth at the finish line, 6.9s behind winner Jorge Martin and almost 3s from third place. Behind him Fabio Di Giannantonio, 1.7s adrift. Marc Marquez struggled more, ninth and almost 14s from the race leader.

The big difference came from the drop-off of the soft rear tire, which for Ducati occurred after just a few laps, then becoming a major issue in the second half of the Sprint Race. Marquez Jr. suffered the least because he had a less explosive start, unlike Diggia and Marc, who pushed harder. The Borgo Panigale factory will certainly analyze all the data to understand exactly what happened, given such a KO against Aprilia.

At the end of the day the riders spoke to Sky Sport MotoGP and shared their analysis of what happened. There was definitely great curiosity to hear from Marc Marquez, the one who had the sharpest drop-off: "No one expected such degradation after 3–4 laps, but I’m satisfied anyway. I felt good on the bike both in the morning and in the first laps of the Sprint, but we need to understand what happened with the rear tire degradation: whether it was down to me, whether the setup can help me... I suffered a lot, I was fourth and fighting for the podium, then I finished ninth. We need to understand what I can do and what the team can do to manage this tire".

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider confirmed: "I stress the tires on corner entry; in the fast corners I struggled. Already from the third lap I noticed something was happening, I tried to manage it, but it was too late: the tire was already torn up, we have to understand why. Whether there was a heat spike, whether I slid too much, whether the tire wasn’t operating at the right temperature... There are various things that can cause graining; in this case the rider feels like they could be thrown off the bike at any moment. Finishing sixth-seventh or ninth-tenth makes little difference, whereas if you have a crash it can change a lot. That’s why I just decided to finish the race. For Sunday, the optimistic goal is to finish fifth-sixth". Marc rules himself out of the podium fight; we’ll see if today’s words are just pre-tactics.

In the very first laps Di Giannantonio thought he could be more competitive, then the bill came due: "Usually, I’m someone who treats the tires well and has more left towards the end of the race, but today it was the opposite. On lap four the rear tire was gone, so it became about survival. At the start I was fairly comfortable with the pace behind Martin and Ogura, so I tried to attack Ai; I expected to go faster. But on lap four I started losing the rear on entry; it was hard just to stay upright and I had to slow down".

The problems started from the third-fourth lap, but why did Ducati suffer so much compared to Aprilia? The Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider answered like this: "Today was the perfect snapshot of the pecking order. Since the start of the year I’ve been saying Aprilia are in better shape than us and can do everything more easily. The riders are doing an incredible job, but they have a package that helps them especially in tire management, whereas we’re more tied to rear grip: as soon as it drops a bit or we use the tire a bit more, the front doesn’t support us enough and we’re walking on eggshells. We’re trying to improve".

Diggia admits he should have managed his MotoGP Sprint differently, going a bit slower in the very first laps to have more in the second half and avoid such a steep drop: "I made a mistake, I thought I had the package to stay with the Aprilias and I pushed hard at the start. That made me ruin the rear tire a lot; Alex was much smarter".

Fourth at the flag with more effective management, Alex Marquez admits there was also a bit of luck: "Honestly, I was lucky. Starting seventh, I had Fernandez and Bezzecchi ahead; they were fast but not super fast. In the first three laps I was able to save the tire and when the others dropped a lot I had more than they did."

Had he anticipated a major rear-tire drop in the Sprint? "Yes," the Spaniard replies, "because in the morning I had the same problem when I tried a setup change and in the second run I was very slow. I didn’t think I could be consistent to the end; I expected to fade earlier. I didn’t expect the other Ducati riders to have such a big problem compared to us. Having it in FP2 helped me know what to do in my riding".

The BK8 Gresini rider had anticipated the possibility of difficulties and, in hindsight, regrets not fitting a different rear compound: "We made the mistake of not putting the medium on the rear. Maybe we would have paid a bit more in the first laps, but then we would have arrived much better in the final laps".