Pecco Bagnaia also puts his teammates in their place: “I didn’t expect that”

Francesco Bagnaia had to settle for seventh place in Austria: “It was a good race given the conditions and how the last three races have gone. Today the conditions were different; we couldn’t get the traction we needed and lost a lot of grip. On the fifth or sixth lap, I picked up the pace to move up as much as possible—it was a good strategy, and it allowed me to finish the race right behind Aldeguer and Binder. On the seventh lap, I had a brake issue that didn’t help, but since I’d already dealt with it before, I managed to finish the race.”

The overall assessment is still bittersweet: “It’s hard to evaluate this weekend; we worked well and did our best. The other Ducatis closed in on me, not the other way around. This is a track where you lose a lot of ground, and I lose a bit of my edge. Today we noticed a deficit—we’re lacking entry speed and line speed, especially in the initial corner-entry phase. We can see it in the results; today was a slower race for everyone. Comparing the old data, you can see a difference in the initial entry phase and exit speed. But we all gave it our all. I didn’t expect the Ducati to struggle this much, but I knew Aprilia and KTM would be fast.”

Acosta comments on today’s winner: “It’s always an incredible moment to win your first race; he’s deserved it for quite some time, even though he hadn’t managed it yet for a thousand reasons. He’s very strong—among the new generation, he’s the fastest. He’ll win more races by the end of the season; once you realize you can do it, you gain more confidence. I can already see him doing well in Japan.”