Pecco Bagnaia in crisis again, issues even with the Ducati GP26: his outburst at Goiania

Bagnaia’s weekend in Brazil ended with a crash: the Ducati rider tried to explain what problems he had with the 2026 Ducati.

Francesco Bagnaia left Goiânia with a lot of disappointment. He had hoped for a different Brazilian Grand Prix. Practice sessions and warm-up didn’t go badly, but between qualifying and the races he wasn’t able to be competitive enough. In the Sprint he did no better than eighth, while on Sunday he crashed at Turn 1 on lap eleven while running in eleventh place (the same he had on the starting grid).

Looking at the results of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez with the Ducati Desmosedici GP26, it’s fair to say the Piedmontese rider could have done much better. It’s been a rough start to the season after encouraging tests. In the overall standings he’s thirteenth with 10 points, 46 behind leader Marco Bezzecchi and 2 ahead of Fermin Aldeguer, the worst-placed Ducati rider who, however, skipped the Thai GP.

Pecco gave an interview to Sky Sport MotoGP, expressing all his bitterness over how things went in Goiânia, where he had much higher expectations: "A shame. Starting from the back is never ideal, but given how I crashed, I don’t think starting further forward would have stopped me from crashing anyway. Unfortunately, I felt quite uncomfortable in the race, I didn’t have good feelings and I couldn’t push. A bit like last weekend, I didn’t manage to read the situation well. It was tougher than Saturday, when I was stuck behind Alex but could still be more competitive.In the race I just didn’t have it, I was very much at the mercy of what the bike was doing, to the point that I went down at Turn 1 without really doing much."

Considering the positive pre-season tests, people expected to see a more competitive Bagnaia, but he still seems to be missing something to perform at a high level over the weekend: "We’re working really hard, I’m putting in the effort, sooner or later we’ll get there and be where we need to be. But we have to rebuild the speed, and that’s not an easy path. Unfortunately, last year I lost a lot. This year in testing I was competitive, and then not in the first race. Here in practice and warm-up I was fast, then unfortunately in the two races... I messed up qualifying a bit on my own, but in the race I would have struggled a lot to do better than in the Sprint."

The three-time world champion still seems to have some feeling issues on corner entry, as if his confidence with the front isn’t yet back to its best. He’s also struggling to exploit the soft rear tire. Something has changed on the Ducati Desmosedici from 2024 onwards: "It’s hard for me to answer,” says Bagnaia, “because it’s a concept that was carried over from last year too. You have to go with what you’ve got. Right now I can’t ride the way I think I can and the way I want. I feel limited in my riding, I can’t express what I was doing at least up to 2024 or in the race in Japan in 2025. It’s a real battle. In qualifying, every time we put on a new tire I struggle. In Thailand during the test I set the best time with the medium rear, then in the race I couldn’t push. Here with the soft I was really in trouble."

Even though Ducati worked hard to prevent a repeat of a 2025-like MotoGP season for Pecco, the rider still doesn’t feel completely at ease on the bike. More work is needed. The first Grands Prix of 2026 have certainly been disappointing, and it will be interesting to see how Austin goes next weekend. Bagnaia needs to react.