This Sunday August 7, 2022, Francis Bagnaia answered questions from journalists from the Silverstone circuit at the end of the British Grand Prix.
With his second consecutive victory, the fourth this year, the Italian rider reduced his gap from 91 to 49 points on the current leader of the MotoGP championship, fabio quartararo.
As usual, we report here the words of Francis Bagnaia without any formatting, even if it is translated from English.
Francis Bagnaia : " I am very happy with this race. I would like to put it among my best, because I struggled all weekend, I wasn't as competitive as I expected. Yesterday, I had already accepted a top 5, because I already knew that it was going to be very difficult to win. But then this morning we found something better with the hard rear tire, and also using the front medium in preparation for the race. In the last part of the race I was completely out of rear grip, so I started braking really hard and it was the only thing I could do to protect myself. I am very happy ! Compared to Assen where I controlled the distance, in this race I did my best on time because I was sure it would be difficult at the end of the race. But everything went well and I'm very happy. »
You have regained a lot of points in the championship…
« Yes, of course, I got a lot of points back in the last two races, but I still don't want to think about the championship. We have time to think about it. The next race will be in Austria: I will try to be competitive there and I will try to think only about Austria. Today it was very important to take an advantage thanks to Fabio's Long Lap penalty. This was the key: with this Long Lap, Fabio lost time because he started with the medium rear tire, and I think that if he had been in front he would have opened up a gap, because he was very competitive today . But Zarco closed a lot of trajectories to him and he lost a lot of positions. For sure, with the medium rear tire, it wasn't the best situation for him. Then Aleix had a big crash yesterday, and otherwise he would have been competitive today like Maverick was. Today it helped me a lot in terms of the championship, but winning today was the most important thing because I was struggling and it's the first time this year that I won when I was in a situation difficult. I am very happy with this! »
If we had told you two races ago, when you were 91 points behind, that now you would be 49, would you have believed it?
“My goal is always to be competitive and win races. I must say that I was lucky that in Assen Fabio made a mistake and had to take a Long Lap penalty on this track. So under normal circumstances I think Fabio would still be out front like me, fighting me, and I think he would have been more competitive in this race. So we were lucky he got the Long Lap penalty. We did a good job because we took advantage of this situation. I always think about winning points, but I would like to think race by race, which is better. »
Are you going to celebrate this victory with a soft drink tonight? Seriously, is this victory a perfect response to the criticism you received?
« For sure, I'll take a taxi tonight (smile), but I think everyone can make a mistake. I made a mistake and I said I made a mistake. Everyone can make a mistake and I'm sorry for that.
I think that this victory does not change what happened during the summer break, but changes my situation more because this year, every time I won I fell in the next race, so I wanted win twice consecutively. This helps me to be more relaxed, but this time even more so because in a difficult weekend like this, where I really struggled since the start of the weekend, I won. We were therefore able to make good progress in terms of speed and consistency, and I am happy with that. »
In Parc Fermé, you said that Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi helped you: can you tell us more?
« This weekend, I especially spoke a lot with Valentino and he helped me a lot to better understand the situation because I was in a bit of difficulty throughout the weekend. It wasn't easy to get his point of view, because he's at home and just watching TV, but he helped me a lot to understand the tire, to understand the temperature of the tires. So he helped me a lot.
And for Casey, I just asked him if in the past he had done anything different on this track that helped him be more competitive. And this morning he sent me a message. And I just tried to do something the way he did it in the past. And it was good, but maybe not for the tires we have now. But anyway, I am very lucky to have these kinds of people around me at my disposal. Thanks also to Gabarrini who is very good friends with Casey. I am very lucky ! »
Are you currently riding better than ever?
« In my opinion, at the moment I'm improving a little bit myself, because during the last part of last year I was driving well and I was very competitive, but the championship was already decided. Now the situation is different and I'm just trying to improve myself because I fell a lot of times this year, maybe because I wasn't in the right frame of mind. So I tried to progress during the summer break with my trainer at home to try to understand my mistakes. I don't want to say that I'm completely OK: I've progressed in this area and I think I'm trying to accept these situations.
»
You say you tried to do what Casey Stoner was doing. Could you be more precise ?
« It was excellent at finding traction out of corners. That's what he suggested for today, so I tried waiting longer before opening the throttle, and it was a little better. The problem was that with five or six laps to go I no longer had any rear grip, so in the last part of the race I just did my riding style because I couldn't use the rear tire anymore. So I simply tried to brake hard to stop the bike using the front tire, since the rear was sliding a lot. »
This is the first time you fight with Maverick Viñales this year…
« I think it was the first time we had this kind of fight. Only once we had some sort of fight, at Misano in 2020, and I crashed. But this time it was different because it was in the last part of the race: I think if we had fought at the start of the race, he was more competitive and he would have created a gap because he was more competitive than me. But maybe he had a bad start so he lost time. In the last part of the race, I had a very good feeling with the front tire and I think that to close the gap he attacked a lot, and that when he arrived at me he had completely finished his rear tire. So I just tried to pass it again because it had widened a bit, and I immediately closed the next corner. That was the key to winning today, because I just tried to be as consistent as possible with the tire while attacking a lot, and in the end I had an advantage with the front tire in the last part of the race . »
MotoGP British Grand Prix results:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
