Just like last year, Francesco Bagnaia started the season with a win. The Ducati rider had supremacy in the main race of the Qatar GP, leaving Losail at the top of the championship.
The two-time world champion said in a press conference that this win was important, but not decisive: ‘For sure is very important for the points, for the championship, but was not crucial because I think the championship is very, very long. We still have 40 races to go and sometimes to win you risk a bit too much. So it was important for the motivation to arrive for the next race’.
For Bagnaia, more than the results, was crucial to have a better understanding of the bike: ‘The most important thing is that we were able to understand better the new bike with used tyres, because in the test in Malaysia and also here the grip level was very, very high and it was diffficult to have a drop on the tyres after 20 laps. So it was the first time we had this kind of feeling and was important to understand it. So the most important thing was that one’.
The Italian also said: ‘Winning for sure it’s always fantastic, it’s always important, but I’m happier that we understand better the way to have performance with this bike’.