Francesco Bagnaia may have continued its second podiumless MotoGP event at Silverstone, but the Italians were not facing difficulties with the GP25 on British trucks.
Teammate Mark Marquez saved the closest podium from the most difficult weekend as a factory Ducati rider, with Fabio di Giannantonio dropping from third to tenth in the sprint on the Grand Prix checkered flag.
However, on the eve of this weekend’s Aragon Round, VR46 rider Digianntonio felt that the reopened race had overshadowed his potential.
“I think Silverstone was a very turning point for us, because we really understood a lot of a lot from this bike,” Di Giannantonio said Thursday.
“I think here we can start with the right setup in the right way for the weekend.
“We hope we’ll play all the cards here to make a stable weekend and try and play the way we want it to.”
Interestingly, Diggia backed up Bagnaia’s comments about the GP25’s front-end feeling, appearing to describe it as a kind of “filter.”
“The movement I did with Silverstone has improved this feeling and it’s faster than in previous rounds,” he said.
“It certainly does have a kind of filter on this bike with a front.
“But we only did seven rounds. I think there’s a lot of races ahead of us and there’s a lot of tests to improve that.”
Bagnaia crashed from the Grand Prix after finishing sixth in the Silverstone Sprint, earning further position in Alex Marquez’s position.
While acknowledging Aragon would be another weekend “working” in his current issues, Bagnaia emphasized that trying to replicate the GP24 front accurately with the GP25 is “useless.”
“I want to take a step back and not compare last year’s bikes to this year’s bikes because it’s useless and it’s not helping the engineers,” Bagnaia explained.
“So we’ll try and solve it on the bike and try something else and see if we can think of it from the box if we can find something.”
Did the issues that Mark Marquez suffered in Silverstone provide new clues to the team?
“It’s true that Silverstone was important to Mark for the first time with (rider),” Bagnaia replied.
“It helps for the team (to have more data), but that’s not a good thing because we want to be ahead.
“(But) Also, bad outcomes can sometimes help us understand the direction, and maybe we’ve found something.”
Nevertheless, Bagnaia, like many riders, has confirmed that if they are forced to make a choice, they will choose the feel of the front end on the rear grip.
“Absolutely, I have a lot of confidence in the front. I need to have a sharper front, a more (sensitive) front, which is so slippery, but always like this, and now I need to understand what to do with this bike to have the same (emotions).”
Bagnaia endured the nightmare Aragon event of 2024 – struggling on dirty surfaces, clashing with Alex Marquez for the Grand Prix podium, but was also the venue for his debut Motogpu victory over Mark Marquez in 2021.
“It’s a race I always remember and my first victory at MotoGP, so it’s always been a part of me and I’d like to repeat that. The same outcome and the same fight would be great,” he said.
“But let’s take a look, we know that fast marks are everywhere, but this track (especially) requires us to work to find our feelings.
“It’s what it is, and I need to focus on the positives and take my motivation from rewatching the race and try to think about what happened here.”
The eighth round of the season, Sunday, also follows a rare day of official tests.
“(It’s) very important, and the more wraps we can do, the more wraps we tested with items we can have are a little bit of a hit for us,” Bagnaia said.
Also, on Monday, you will need to get time to try out the latest Ducati chassis already in use at Mark Marquez.