Francesco Bagnaia believes Ducati still have a clear case they need to fix to improve their 2026 season, but Fabio Di Giannantonio feels the GP26 has bigger issues.
Factory Ducati rider Bagnaya He arrived at this week’s Hungarian Grand Prix at Balaton Park in high spirits, having had his best run of the campaign so far at the Italian GP. Bagnaia finished third at Mugello. Last Sunday in the domestic race, he even briefly battled for the lead.
But the two-time MotoGP champion knows Bagnaia Ducati There is still work to be done to turn the latest iteration of the Desmosedici into a machine capable of delivering to Aprilia with the GP26. Marco Bezecchi won at Mugello for Aprilia, and boasted a lead of 5.098s at Bagnaia.
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Francesco Bagnaia feels the Ducati suffers from an ‘oversized’ rear tyre.
Bagnaia finished third in the final round of the Italian GP to Trackhouse Racing’s I Ogura, in his satellite Aprilia RS-GP, also narrowly missing out. Ogura overshot his attempt to overtake Bagnaia in the final corner of Mugello, giving the Ducati star a chance to punish him for eating a tire.
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Bagnaya admits that he wears a tire with the back Michelin The 28-year-old’s rate of decline makes him less consistent in the race, so rubber is still a big threat for him and Ducati. That said, the Turin native is happy with the Borgo Panigale brand’s progress so far.
“Mugello was great,” Bagnaia said. GPON. “The weekend was tough, but we were able to improve a lot throughout the weekend and, in the end, in the race, we were able to put in a strong performance.
“It’s true that we’re still a bit inconsistent at race pace. In fact, we’re still tiring the rear tire a lot. But we’re moving in the right direction, and we’ve improved every weekend since testing in Jerez.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio says Ducati’s ‘problem’ isn’t tire wear.
But while Bagnaia highlighted rear tire wear as a cause for concern on Ducati, Satellite Star By Giantantonio He believes the GP26’s biggest problem isn’t tire wear. Instead, the VR46 pilot points out that there are “many” other aspects where the Aprilia RS-GP excels.
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“Our problem this season is not rubber,” explained Di Giantantonio. GPON. “There are many areas where we are struggling compared to Aprilia. The reality is that they are getting stronger in all conditions and at all times. So overall we have to improve a bit.”
One of the areas where the Aprilia RS-GP has shown itself to be far superior to the Ducati GP26 this year is how the bikes handle in corners. The Aprilia has managed to turn more tightly than the Ducati so far.
Speaking back in May, Di Giantantonio Ducati “always” lacks in the corners compared to the ApriliaHe and his fellow riders use the GP26 because they are entry-level and can’t attack their rivals. He even pointed out that the lack of corner entry makes them worse on the exit.
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