MotoGP, Portugal Day 3, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati/Ab.) explains his crash: "I was pushing too hard, it can happen."

Francesco Bagnaia believes that his mistake was not related to a lack of confidence and that this GP was therefore more positive than some others.

Francis Bagnaia He didn't experience the Grand Prix finish he was expecting. Having been on a good run since Friday, he seemed to be having one of those weekends "with" his best, which have unfortunately been rare this season. Qualifying fourth on the grid, he could have hoped for two top-five finishes in the race, or even a podium if something happened among the top three.

However, he encountered difficulties during yesterday's sprint race, particularly with his tires, and was overtaken right at the end. Eighth at the checkered flag, he confided that he no longer had overly high expectations, but still hoped to be more in the mix this Sunday, and that was the case.

Although overtaken by Fabio Quartararo at the start, he regained fourth place on the second lap and then tried to catch Pedro Acosta, who was further ahead. Unfortunately, he crashed on lap 11, but considers it a mistake in his attack rather than a lack of feeling, which makes a big difference in his eyes.

“I was pushing hard to hold onto fourth place. It was still too early to relax, so I was giving it my all to try and catch Pedro. I knew it would be difficult because [the three in front] were much faster than me. So I was just trying to do my best, and I crashed because I was pushing too hard. It's something that can happen.”, did he declare.

“Honestly, I wasn’t in contention for the podium. But it’s certainly better this way than at Phillip Island or in Indonesia. So, we’ll continue to work like this. I think we’re doing a good job, even if the speed isn’t quite there yet. We just need to stay calm and work hard.”

bagnaia draws a rather positive conclusion from this Portuguese Grand Prix, and hopes to end this extremely difficult 2025 season on a good note in Valencia next weekend. "It was a better weekend overall. The result is more or less the same. We just need to stay focused for the last race. And I really want to have a great weekend there and get a good result.", he concluded.

Results of the 2025 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix :

Classification credit: MotoGP.com