Last year didn’t go so well for Enea Bastianini, with the Italian only doing one lap before crashing and picking up a serious injury. Even so, that doesn’t change the Ducati rider’s approach, with him saying that it’s important to resolve the problems he experienced in Qatar, as it’s important to be among the fastest riders early on.
On his expectations for the weekend, the 26-year-old began by saying: ‘I want to close the race. Last year I only did one lap and this year we’ll see… We’ve come here after a good weekend in Qatar, it was better in qualifying and but in the race I saw some problems, I need something more in braking, at the start, because some riders overtook me in the first and second corners and it was impossible to pass them again, let’s see if we can improve on that’.
The Italian then emphasised those problems in particular: ‘The braking was the problem. I felt something at the start, especially in the first ten laps and now we have to see the balance of the bike on this track, which is different, but for the race it’s important to brake later if you want to stay on top. It’s the same as with Pecco [Bagnaia], but when you test the bike on your own it’s one thing, and when you’re with a group it’s different, it changes everything, and I felt something different compared to what I felt in testing’.
He continued: ‘Normally in the first part of the race I try to be conservative, so to speak, but in Qatar it wasn’t like that, I tried to push from the start and it was very difficult to stay with the group. The bike is a bit different from last year and we have to try other solutions, but maybe it’s not a big problem, we have to try something different, some changes, and this track is completely different’.
On whether he has any additional work to do, from a mental point of view, compared to what happened last year, the Italian concluded: ‘No. I was calm in the first GP, and the approach is to try to do something race by race and maybe here I have to do something more compared to Losail, but we have to push, it’s important for the championship to be at the top. Last year’s situation was bad but this year is new’.