Francesco Bagnaia dominated the Sprint race at Mugello. The Italian rider showed a very strong and consistent pace from the first lap and, despite the efforts of his rival, Marc Márquez, he held off the pressure and won on Italian soil.
In his assessment, Pecco talked about his feelings during the Sprint race and his expectations for tomorrow’s race.
– In the first part of the sprint race last year we had falls, some falls. And the first two or three laps were quite intense. Then everything was fine and we pushed ourselves, but… Going down to 46 last year was something incredible. So, the championship is incredibly fast right now. The tires are doing a very good job, but so are we. We have improved a lot. Honestly, last year I felt amazing here. I did 44.8 with last year’s bike and it was impressive. One thing that was very good last year was the entry into the corners, because the speed in the corners was very high last year. This year I can be more consistent, I think, with the tires and the braking. But it’s a mix, because last year I felt very good.
He also added about the potential candidates to fight for victory tomorrow and talked about the decision of the penalty: “For me, Marc, Pedro, and Martin. I did a very good job and it is very useful in this case because today the temperature of the front could be a problem and we managed to lead already in the first corner and that is important. Tomorrow will be even more important because I start from 5th place and the start will be much more important. I am good at separating things. I am still frustrated with what happened yesterday, because I think it is ridiculous. We clearly demonstrated what happened. They only decided to announce the penalty when I was talking to them. When I was talking to them, trying to make them understand the data, the telemetry data, what was happening, the announcement of the three penalties had already been made. So, this is crap. This is crap and nobody is happy. Nobody is happy. We do not have consistency in terms of penalties. Last year, in Portimão, I had an accident with Marc and we both fell. They told me that if I hadn’t fallen, they would have given me three long laps. But today what happened with Martin and Bastianini, was the same dynamic, without penalty, or Oliveira and Quartararo, or yesterday Oliveira with Martini. So, we do not have consistency.
