Two-time MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia says he regrets his recent demand for answers from his Ducati team.
Bagnaia made headlines in the aftermath of the Austrian Grand Prix, which was another poor race for the Italian in a deeply chastening season. His team-mate Marc Marquez has finished ahead in every single race, be it sprint or grand prix, in which both stayed on the bike.
Bagnaia has been full of praise and recognition for the impact Marquez has had, but also believes Ducati has taken a wrong turn with its 2025 Desmosedici design - as his own discomfort with the bike has translated to him looking defenceless in battle on Saturdays and Sundays, while in the past both overtaking and particularly defence were among his strengths.
When asked by Spanish broadcaster DAZN in Austria whether he was running out of patience, Bagnaia answered in the affirmative - while also pointing out that his race-winning time from 2024 was virtually equivalent to Marquez's this past Sunday. He then said he wanted an explanation from Ducati.
"At the start of the race, Bez [Marco Bezzecchi] and Marc were doing everything better than me - braking, corner entries, corner exits. I know they're strong riders, but to finish 12s off on a track where I've always made a difference is something I just don't understand, and I won't."
Ducati has been largely accepting in public of Bagnaia's discontent, but some mild pushback was notable in Austria - where Ducati tech chief Gigi Dall'Igna, while saying Ducati had to figure out how to help Bagnaia, also said "there's definitely a mental component" to his struggles, suggested he'd been "spiralling" in-weekends and insisted he was satisfied with Ducati's efforts to aid Bagnaia so far.
Now Bagnaia himself has walked things back.
"My fault is always more or less to say what I think," he told media on Thursday ahead of Balaton Park's first Hungarian Grand Prix.
"Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. In some situations, where you finish a very disastrous weekend, a very disastrous race, then you go directly to the interviews, it's not a good idea.
"But I was nervous, I was angry, and when I arrived to the broadcast set, you're speaking with the journalists, and everybody, more than 20 people, is asking you 'what is wrong with you?'."
Bagnaia then described it as "honestly, my mess".
"I just spoke easily with all the team, like always, like I normally do on Monday-Tuesday," he added. "And I just arranged [managed] the situation.
"Nobody was offended, nobody was angry. I recognised that it's not easy also for them to figure out our problems, that is seven months that we are struggling together. They are trying to support me, giving me what I need, but it's tough.
"This bike is not suiting at all my way to push, I am struggling a lot. What I started to do yesterday, what I did this morning, is comparing three race weekends where last year I was super fast - Assen, Mugello and Austria - and seeing why I'm always slower, or everybody with our bike [GP25] is always slower. And see if we can do something.
"It's not an easy process. But it's not easy also for them, working all day trying to give me the maximum.
"I'm just the one that needs to finish that job - but it's tough also for them."
Asked by The Race whether he was keen on trying the GP24 in the upcoming in-season test at Misano, Bagnaia insisted it would be fruitless because homologation rules mean he's stuck with the GP25 for the season - suggesting that he is very confident he would be much stronger on last year's version.
"Honestly, it's something that I don't want to try - in case I will prefer it, I can't go back to it.
"So, better not to show the potential of last year's bike."
Bagnaia said he retains "enough respect and support" both from his Ducati team and from the media covering the events - and "the rest [of the chatter], for me, is trash".
He also said he believes no thought has been given from either party about potentially going their separate ways in 2027.
"Something that I'm not thinking about. If I can remain, I will remain. If not, I will try to go somewhere else," Bagnaia said.
"My priority is to win again with my bike, with my team, and never think about changing. I don't think anybody has started to think about it."
