Bagnaia stormed to a first MotoGP victory two weeks ago in Aragon when he defeated Honda’s Marc Marquez in an exciting duel and defended championship leaders Fabio Quartararo the following week in Misano.
This was Ducatis’ fifth win in 2021, after consecutive wins for Jack Miller at Jerez and Le Mans and a famous first win for Pramac rookie Jorge Martin in Austria.
In addition to the five victories, Ducati has also achieved podium results with all of its teams and five out of six drivers. Rookie Enea Bastianini led his two-year-old Avintia bike to third place in Misano.
Only Yamaha have surpassed Ducati’s winning streak with six this year – though five of them were in the hands of Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales secured the others.
In a difficult title defense season, Suzuki has yet to win a Grand Prix for the reigning driver and team champions, a consequence of a GSX-RR package that has barely developed any further than its 2020 predecessor.
After losing fourth place at Misano when trying to chase Bastianini, Rins said he believes Ducati made a big leap forward in 2021 – underscoring how it managed to address its traditional weak point of turning to improve.
“I’ve certainly seen the Ducati five steps ahead,” said Rins.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“I mean, they’re pretty strong. This crash may have happened because I was trying to keep up the pace [as Bastianini].
“Joan [Mir] and me, we’re trying to do our best with the Suzuki.
“Joan is definitely fighting for the World Championship, I have nothing to lose, so I tried not to be a little aggressive but pushed myself to the limit.
“Sometimes I pass [the limit] and I crashed.
“You are much better than us. I want to say in all races because in the past the Ducati was a motorcycle that only worked well on stop-and-go tracks.
“Now they work well on almost all tracks.
“In Aragon, Pecco drove a fantastic race and overtook Marc, the bike turned really well. This track too [Misano] is a very short route and they could turn well. “
Team-mate Mir admitted after finishing sixth at Misano that his title chances were all but gone and said he was “angry” about it as he felt he would be doing much better in 2021.