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Another solid race. Have to say while there was some excellent duelling from Pecco, he just can't hang it with MM. Afraid unless he can outduel him, hard to see him beating the Spaniard.

Real shame that Vinales was demoted for a tire pressure issue. In one part of the race, his barnstorming pace had it look like he'd run away to the flag. But rules are rules.

Already looks like the title is MM's to lose. The bit I have to question is was there some issue with his bike early on? Seemed like there was and then he was back to the front again. Seems like it's not entirely trouble free with the Ducati but given those many years of riding around the problems of the Honda, he's going to be at ease given the inherent pace of the Ducati to work around those niggles.

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by ads11

Another solid race. Have to say while there was some excellent duelling from Pecco, he just can't hang it with MM. Afraid unless he can outduel him, hard to see him beating the Spaniard.

Pecco has had a difficult start to the 2025 season for sure. After four races, he's about three tenths behind his team mate every lap, which is huge in MotoGP. To beat Marc, he desperately needs to find those three tenths and then some so that he can put Marc under pressure. It seems unlikely at the moment, but things can change during the Jerez tests where new parts are expected to arrive. Also, Pecco favors European tracks so it will be foolish to rule him out with/without the upgrades.

Originally Posted by ads11

Already looks like the title is MM's to lose. The bit I have to question is was there some issue with his bike early on? Seemed like there was and then he was back to the front again. Seems like it's not entirely trouble free with the Ducati but given those many years of riding around the problems of the Honda, he's going to be at ease given the inherent pace of the Ducati to work around those niggles.

No issues with the bike except for the contact with Alex Marquez in the first lap where he lost a rear winglet, Marc mentioned it didn't make any difference to the balance of the bike.
Lusail circuit is especially hard on the tires so Marc was in preservation mode from the start, hence, Morbidelli, Vinales and Pecco overtook him at different parts of the race. During the final stages however, Marc unleashed the full potential of the medium tires, took the lead and won the race 1.8s ahead of Vinales!

[parzival]

What a race weekend, lots of talking points. To me the highlight was Vinales. I think his podium and how he got there would be a motivation not just for KTM but every other manufacture who is trying to catch upto Ducati. And what a ride!
Was really excited to see the number 1 back on track. He even did really well on Q1 and warm up. But alas, looks like we are gonna miss him for the next 4-5 races again.

As things stand today, Pecco seems to be in for a very long season this year. Pecco has got no space for errors, he is not battling FQ on a Yamaha, or a JM who used to make as many mistakes as Pecco himself in 23 or 24 ( where Pecco still lost) I think Pecco knows this better than anyone.

I still don’t understand why can’t Ducati or Pecco solve his Saturday woes, especially in sprint. Don’t they have the capability to find out the real cause and solve this?
Also this time around, we need to doubt if it’s something of his own doing. Ducati and Pecco have been saying that for Pecco the championship actually starts from Qatar. Perhaps he had much more pressure going into Saturday because of this expectation and he wasn’t doing particularly good on Saturday till the crash. Though I still don’t think he had a chance to win even if he started from pole position, as Marc was on another level, and like he said after Thailand GP -‘Marc was playing with us’, perhaps he was actually playing with them, this time around.

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by parzival

I still don’t understand why can’t Ducati or Pecco solve his Saturday woes, especially in sprint. Don’t they have the capability to find out the real cause and solve this?

In a couple of interviews in the past, Pecco had mentioned that the smaller fuel tank used for the Saturday sprint affects his handling of the bike :
"Bagnaia blamed his Saturday sprint struggles on a recurring balance issue caused by a smaller fuel tank, though he says “it’s not possible” that he can have these problems while in grands prix he can fight for the podium."

Why can't they use the Sunday race tank with lesser fuel as prescribed for the sprint? Probably some fine print in the rules prevent it.

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Originally Posted by Fx14

In a couple of interviews in the past, Pecco had mentioned that the smaller fuel tank used for the Saturday sprint affects his handling of the bike :
"Bagnaia blamed his Saturday sprint struggles on a recurring balance issue caused by a smaller fuel tank, though he says “it’s not possible” that he can have these problems while in grands prix he can fight for the podium."

Why can't they use the Sunday race tank with lesser fuel as prescribed for the sprint? Probably some fine print in the rules prevent it.

Wait, they fit a physically smaller tank for sprint races as opposed to the regular race?! Wouldn't that impact the aero and balance etc. Basically you'd end up with a Sprint Race spec and a regular race bike. Surely that can't be no? I would've thought they just fuel it lighter for sprint races and the lesser fuel sloshing about in the normal sized tank was impacting Pecco. Guess they could add baffles and some such to compartmentalise the tank and prevent the fuel moving about too much and impacting the CoG of the bike.

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by ads11

Sprint Race spec and a regular race bike. Surely that can't be no?

While you could search online for the details, in brief :
The MotoGP regulations mandate a sprint fuel tank with a maximum capacity of 12 litres - compared to 22 for the main event.

Ducati team manager Tardozzi's comments on the matter :
“Pecco is now really demanding on setting. He is not the guy who wants to ride a bike which does not suit his riding style. This creates a problem for his team. In the end, they finally found a solution, mainly for the Sunday. We still have a problem with him, with the balance of the bike, with a small fuel tank. It creates some problems.This is since we had Saturday races. But Pecco must think that he is a champion, he must manage the problem."

This probably explains why last year Pecco won 11 races on Sundays and yet lost the championship due to his relatively poor performances in the Sprints.

[ads11]

Interesting, so they do have two different race day specs. Wonder if they could just make the size of his sprint race tank similar to the full fat race spec tank, whilst limiting the internal storage volume to the mandated 12 litres. Basically add ballast if he's that impacted though that might run afoul of minimum weight requirements.

I hadn't thought of the sprint race weakness of Pecco before, admittedly I didn't look hard enough. Looks like a long standing issue then. Sounds like he's feeling the heat now that there's a bona fide monster rider across the other side of the same garage. I do hope he can find a fix, he seems a likeable guy and a solid rider otherwise.

[parzival]

Originally Posted by Fx14

In a couple of interviews in the past, Pecco had mentioned that the smaller fuel tank used for the Saturday sprint affects his handling of the bike”

Yes, but it’s been what, 3 Years? since the sprint format is introduced and it’s baffling to me that Pecco isn’t able to ride around this issue or Ducati is unable to find a solution. Is that too much to ask from a constructor who is just leaving everyone in dust because of their innovation and performance.

Also Pecco must be running even lesser quantity of fuel at all the practices and qualifying than sprint and yet he was really good in q2s last year and not bad this year too. I am confused why it’s not much of an issue with the balance of the bike at qualifying but only in the sprint.
Plus none of other riders have complained or at least have a very obvious visible drop in performance between the sprint and race, or may be I am not aware of anyone complaining.

Why can't they use the Sunday race tank with lesser fuel as prescribed for the sprint? Probably some fine print in the rules prevent it.

I think it’s highly likely that people would take advantage by filling in more fuel if that was the case, or the stewards will have a hard time verifying the fuel for every bike before the race. So it’s easier this way. Though it still might not solve Pecco’s problem I guess, as the balance would still be affected with less fuel in a large tank and might make it worse without baffles inside.

[Cyborg]

This tank issue which Pecco is talking about is what Jorge Lorenzo was complaining about too. He just couldn’t ride to his potential with it. Ducati didn’t take heed for a long time and when they did he almost immediately won a race.

He left Ducati even after they fixed it because they didn’t listen to him for a long time. This was mentioned by him in an interview afterwards.

Cheers

[AtheK]

Everyone else does it, so should Pecco, it is what it is, and if he wants to win championships he better adjust and adapt. This format has been around for sometime and is here to stay.

That said not like he is putting main race also on fire this year, he is slow with his preferred bike as well. GP24 has beaten him this year. If bike was the case he should have finished on P2 consistently.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Everyone else does it, so should Pecco, it is what it is, and if he wants to win championships he better adjust and adapt. This format has been around for sometime and is here to stay.

Exactly, he just HAS to ride around this particular problem. Worse still, he has been doing sprints since 2023 and STILL not able to find a solution! Mind boggling...he needs to remember that all the stars and planets won't align for him every race. And now that Marc is feeling like 110% on a competitive bike, Pecco better change else he may not even finish 2nd this championship.