Pecco Bagnaia and Ducati's sense of relief was palpable at the conclusion of the Aragon Grand Prix, as the two-time MotoGP champion celebrated a third-place finish that would've been cause for consternation in his better seasons.
But Bagnaia hadn't really looked like a third-place rider for much of the season - having started the campaign in relative difficulty already with the 2025-spec Ducati and only falling into more of a rut that reached a nadir with 12th on merit in the Aragon sprint - before a Sunday 'mini-revival'.
It was particularly encouraging for Bagnaia and Ducati because they felt they were able to trace it to a specific change.
"Yesterday night we had a long discussion with Gigi [Dall'Igna, Ducati tech chief], with Pecco and the engineers. We talked a lot after the sprint race that was honestly a disaster," team manager Davide Tardozzi told British broadcaster TNT.
"And finally the engineers had a good idea last night. We put on the bike don’t-ask-me-what this morning [in the warm-up]. This seems that it worked since the first lap and finally we’ve given him back the confidence.
"In the end we were able to find back the feeling on the brakes and entering the corners. It was missing for Pecco, confidence on the front.
“I knew that it was only a small thing that could make the change and the step and it did. Sometimes confidence comes from small things and I guess we found it."
Bagnaia himself - consistently incredulous at how much the feeling changed from Saturday to Sunday this weekend - quickly confirmed that it was a change to the spec of the brake disc from brake supplier Brembo.
When asked about the specifics of the change by The Race, he said: "I was convinced that we were speaking about details - because our bike is similar to the one last year, and this season I'm struggling in some areas where last year I was super strong.
"We just decided to upgrade the disc, to move to the bigger one, and I just felt a bit better."
The resulting podium "felt like a victory", he told MotoGP.com. "I was able to brake harder, without any locking - and till yesterday I was using all my force to decelerate the bike but the bike wasn't decelerating, and I was locking everywhere.
"Maybe yesterday something didn't work... because I was on the ground everywhere, I was losing the front, understeering everywhere. The front was locking every corner.
"From the start of the day [after the change] I was able to brake harder when I needed, brake less when I felt the front was locking. It was a huge step for me.
"The more laps I was doing, the more competitive I was."
Bagnaia also said that the change was so drastic that "maybe it's not just the disc" - but had no other explanation to offer.
Brembo supplies brakes to every MotoGP team, allowing a range of diameters - primarily 320mm, 340mm and 355mm - which can also all come with different-size braking surfaces.
Bagnaia didn't mention the specific figures or specs, but fellow Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio indicated Bagnaia had gone from 340mm (the usual choice for everyone) to 355mm - with the same change "on the list" for Di Giannantonio to try in the Monday test after the race.
Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori explained the effect that such a change can have on a rider.
"When you change the disc, when it's more mass, you also change the power of the lever," he said. "You need to have much more power and also more weight in front. So the behaviour of the bike changes a bit. You need to manage this change.
"Some riders are more sensitive, and some others less. I feel it a lot - because also in my job I need to have sensitivity. It's important. It's a characteristic of the rider - someone feels better the difference of the bike, and someone no [doesn’t]."
But there are two important caveats to Bagnaia's breakthrough, and others in the MotoGP paddock - but also, as mentioned above, Bagnaia himself - are known to be sceptical that the turnaround from a brake disc change could be this significant.
The first caveat is that Bagnaia got a better start than on Saturday and managed to settle into relative clean air. The second was that he has been consistently stronger in grand prix races relative to sprints.
The Aragon GP improvement arguably only restored him to his start-of-season performance - with a similar gap to the Marquez brothers in the Thailand opener.
Asked about his outlook for the title race, where he now trails by 93 points, Bagnaia said: "I don't think right now it's the correct thing to think about the championship, considering the last two GPs and this one - that I was more out of confidence and it was very tough for me in terms of results.
"I needed a result like this. Then, let's see.
"It's not a secret that right now Marc is just faster, Alex is doing a very fantastic job.
"We just need to work on myself and on my side of the box, to guarantee to me a better feeling and just try to at least fight for some wins. Right now the objective is to find some confidence back and try to fight for a win."
One rider who does believe this specific brake disc change could indeed give Bagnaia a boost, though, is the aforementioned Di Giannantonio.
A fellow 'GP25 struggler' for front confidence - an issue that may stem from either minor internal changes to the engine spec or, perhaps more plausibly, the ride height device redesign to make it lighter - Di Giannantonio says a big knock-on effect from the disc change would make sense to him.
"You change the weight on the bike," he said. "You add more weight to the front wheel. It changes not a lot - but a lot. It changes things.
"I'm not that surprised if Pecco found something in those discs. It would be amazing if this was the solution to this year's strange feeling with the front, amazing - but it would also not be that much of a surprise."
