We are not yet talking about open war but it must be noted that the forces are organizing within Francesco Bagnaia's clan to put the Italian driver back in the race for the world title. And that, with three consecutive victories, it’s working quite well!
The Ducati rider may proclaim at all times that he is not thinking about the championship, but he is in any case giving himself all the means to win it, starting with his two luxury consultants named Valentino Rossi et Casey Stoner.
It was on the evening of Silverstone that the Turin resident revealed these two first-class assistants to the press: “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 ! »
A few moments later, Francis Bagnaia specified : “He 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. »
Either. Let's be honest, we took it a bit lightly, as casual conversations of little importance, and then moved on.
But at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix, we discovered that these technical discussions became systematic and took place again to help the number 63 on the Red Bull Ring. So, Valentino Rossi seems to specialize in pneumatic advice while Casey Stoner takes care of gas management.
Francis Bagnaia, after a long silence
: “Honestly, I spoke to Vale and Casey again this weekend (big smile). With Vale, he's more of my mentor so he's always giving me advice on tires. He told me “don’t use the soft front tire because it’s going to take a long time with that”. And I used the soft front tire, so for sure it will tell me something.
And for Casey, he helped me understand the situation better on Friday. Maybe while watching TV, or thanks to his past experience because he rode here with Ducati, he senses something. It's like comments on his experience and I'm trying to see if I can learn something from his experience. And this week, maybe something was useful for me (smile). »
We are not going to fall into the trap of believing that the lightning rise of Francis Bagnaia is solely due to the advice of his two mentors, the Italian driver not having waited for this to show himself extremely fast, like his performance last year. But what we discover, and which is undoubtedly only the hidden side of the iceberg, is nevertheless interesting and undoubtedly has an influence given the current level of performance of driver number 63.
Faced with these cards publicly played down by the Transalpine, fabio quartararo keeps his humor and declared: “Maybe I'll call Casey next week to see if he has any advice for me too (Laughs). It would be great. »
What didn't make you laugh Francis Bagnaia...
