Everyone knows that Bagnaia is very fond of the Assen circuit, but his start in the Dutch Grand Prix was not the best. On the 12th morning and the 19th in the afternoon, the Ducati rider from Piedmont knows that he still has a lot to do, but he has also identified the right direction.
“I can’t be happy with today,” he admitted. “It’s a constant now. Every time we hit a new route, there is always something to do on the bike. Aside from Mugello, we have to try to work on this point and understand why it is happening. In the afternoon I dropped the opportunity to get into the top ten because I had a setup that I didn’t like, but now I know which direction to go which is exactly the opposite of FP1. “
But that doesn’t mean Pecco is worried.
“I still like the track but I’m not happy with my day and I think I should adapt to the track better than the Ducati, “he continued.” I noticed it in the morning. I cut my time by seven tenths on the last lap just by changing my style. But it’s too early to draw conclusions. In the end, we’re only one lap and done seven laps. As soon as we get it right, we’ll be in front. I know Yamaha and Suzuki are very fast, as are the Hondas. We have more problems, but if we solve some problems I think I can do a race in attack.”
That is, when it’s dry, because Bagnaia didn’t do a single lap in the rain today.
“We had prepared the two bikes with different setups and I started with what I didn’t like,” he explained. “When it started raining, it was too late to switch to a wet setup. When I look at the times, it seems to me that after a few laps everyone rode very well, which means that the track has good grip and the Ducati is usually fast in the wet. “
Jack Miller: “I mainly worked at the race pace with worn tires”
Even his team-mate Miller couldn’t ride the Desmosedici in the rain because he preferred to have two bikes with a dry setup.
“We were preparing for the race and changing the setup would have meant we could only do a lap or two and destroy the tires. It wouldn’t have made any sense, ”Jack explained. “I know that I can adapt well to these conditions and I usually belong to the best, going out wouldn’t have changed anything on my weekend.”
Despite finishing 12th of the day, the Australian is happy with his start.
“I am very happy with this first day, “he confirmed.” This morning we mainly focused on the race pace with used tires. We knew it would rain in the afternoon and wanted to try the time attack right away. However, in the first few minutes of FP2 we had to do a set-up – Carry out a test and in the meantime it started to rain so that we could not improve the time. In any case, I am positive and convinced that we can improve tomorrow. “