Pecco Bagnaia says "strange" issues with turning and tyre wear on his Ducati MotoGP bike were to blame for his difficult Saturday at the British Grand Prix, as he dropped from third to finish sixth.
The factory Ducati rider sits third in the standings halfway through the seventh round of 2025, 56 behind team-mate Marc Marquez and 37 behind younger brother Alex.
Marc had his own problems at Silverstone, only qualifying fourth, but their approaches to solving the issues had a telling difference.
Bagnaia has won just one grand prix so far this season, with his team-mate scoring six sprint victories and three main race wins.
The two-time MotoGP champion was running in the podium places until lap seven of Saturday's 10-lap race before his tyres dropped off and he was passed by Fabio Di Giannantonio, Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco.
Explaining his issues on Saturday, Bagnaia said: "Started well. I used a mistake of Fabio to overtake him. And then I tried to follow the first two guys, and after four laps I completely finished the rear tyre. That is strange. But not for the tyre, but for my bike that is not helping me to turn.
"Every time I'm braking and entering the corners I'm not in the correct line. So I need to force a lot the rear to make the bike turn and I finish it. And then it was survival until the last laps. Riders were overtaking me like I wasn't there. It was quite strange."
Bagnaia was unsure whether the problem would improve for Sunday's race, and said the turning issue will not be improved by swapping to the medium front tyre.
"For the first time this season, I cannot understand if I'm using a soft front tyre or a hard front tyre that are two completely different things," he said.
"And for me it's the same [with either tyre], riding the bike. Right now this is the situation."
In the broader context of his struggles this season, Bagnaia said both he and the team are working hard to find a solution.
"It's a failure of everybody if we are not succeeding so we are trying to solve every problem. I'm giving my maximum every time, they are giving their maximum. We are trying to analyse everything every time."
However, in what could be considered a small comfort to Bagnaia, his team-mate also struggled on Saturday with the soft tyre.
Marc conceded that since his serious arm injury in 2020, the long right-hand corners where brother Alex excels have been more difficult for him, and said he looked for "damage control" on Saturday.
Bagnaia said: "For the first time this season, Marc had the same feeling as me. He was just better because he was able to follow Alex for more laps and then he dropped a lot in the last laps.
"But he was able to follow him, but he was more or less feeling the same. So being in the same direction will help absolutely to understand what to do."
While Bagnaia took comfort from Marquez also struggling relatively, an ostensibly innocent remark from his team-mate might have been a hint for why their form has been so different this season.
Marquez suggested it would be down to him to adapt to whatever was wrong with the Ducati at Silverstone, saying "when you're trying a lot of set-ups and you don't feel comfortable, it means you're the problem".
Bagnaia has spent 2025 so far searching for a set-up that works for him on the latest Ducati and admitting that Marquez is better at riding around problems, joking at Le Mans a fortnight ago that his team-mate could get pace out of "a tractor".
Marquez continued: "The bike isn't the problem. Because this is something that some riders misunderstand.
"When you try three-four different set-ups and still the problems are there, it means you're the problem, the bike isn't the problem.
"So for tomorrow I need to work on my riding style."
Some in the paddock might note that Marquez riding around Honda's growing problems in the late 2010s didn't help it much when he was injured and it had to make its bike work for other riders.
But no one can argue that Marquez's approach to Ducati's 2025 situation isn't working given his championship lead and race win tally.
Marquez also reinforced his belief that he and his brother are riding essentially the same bike, the GP24, given Ducati abandoned much of its 2025 package after testing.
Conversely Bagnaia believes that while that's technically true, there are "small details" between the ostensibly older spec Gresini bike and the factory version which are making a crucial difference to him.
"I think that it's little things right now, because like I said, the bikes technically are the same, similar," he said.
"But it's small details right now that are not giving me the feeling with the front that from 2021 to 2024 I always had the same feeling. Right now, it's the first time that I cannot feel the front.
"So this is a huge problem for my riding style which I'm trying to adapt to the bike.
"But it's not easy and I'm destroying the tyres, I'm not happy riding, so it's not easy."
