Bagnaia: ‘Fabio more deserving of the title’
Ducati man gracious after crashing out of lead
Pecco Bagnaia had no choice – only a race win would boost his waferthin hopes of keeping alive the MotoGP championship against Fabio Quartararo. The brave bid ended with Bagnaia’s Ducati crumpled in the gravel as the rider crashed while trying to hold back the relentless pressure of Marc Marquez.
But turn 15 at Misano was not where Bagnaia lost the 2021 championship and, by consequence, extended Ducati’s title losing streak to an embarrassing 14 years since Aussie star Casey Stoner’s colossal 2007 triumph.
A crash while leading Mugello and under-performance at Austria 1 and Silverstone where he “took tyres that were not working” cost Bagnaia crucial points.
That said, Bagnaia was gracious on his day of deep frustration – warmly congratulating Quartararo “as the rider more deserving of this title” while noting his own stellar leap from 16th in 2020 to runner-up this year.
“I don’t think we can be angry that we lost this championship because it was not our first objective this year,” Bagnaia said of his first season in the factory team.
“I learnt lot and in the last five races was always fighting for the win and this is an incredible step compared to the start of the season.” But there is the feeling that
Ducati, Bagnaia and teammate Jack Miller left something on the table. They had the pace and power over Quartararo’s Yamaha but not the consistency.
“Everyone thinks the Ducati is the best one, the fastest one and the more competitive bike but the thing is a Yamaha won the championship,” Bagnaia said.
“The step forward this year is incredible so for next year I think it will be the bike to beat.”
For the race both Bagnaia and Miller switched late to the hard front tyre which needed to be “pushed like hell” to stay warm according to Bagnaia. Both crashed losing the front in cool conditions.