Pol Espargaro feels Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia cost him an automatic Q2 place at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix, bowing to pressure and saying he “gave up”.
Bagnaya For the third time this year, he will have to participate in the first round of qualifying after eight rounds. The 29-year-old completed Friday’s practice session at Balaton Park in 14th place with a lap of 1:37.986, a 1.159s deficit to KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
Acosta paved the way in practice at the Hungarian GP With a best time of 1:36.827, the KTM ace dominated the field in P2 on a Ducati GP26 with a 0.413s margin over VR46 star Fabio Di Giannantonio. Factory Ducati man Bagnaia managed to record a lap time of 1:37.986.
Pedro Acosta at Hungarian GP 😮💨 Who will join the top 10 in Q2?
Pol Espargaro thinks Francesco Bagnaia cracked under pressure at Hungarian GP
Bagnaia struggled for the most part in both practice sessions this Friday, as he didn’t seem comfortable aboard on his first day of GP26 work. Hungarian GP. The Italian often looked unhappy with the bike’s handling in the chicanes and didn’t show much speed.
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Espargaro felt that if Bagnaia didn’t give up after making a mistake, he might be able to set a fast lap to take Q2 position at the end of the day. The Spaniard thinks Bagnaia put too much pressure on himself to produce and made a costly mistake.
“Peco and Franco Morbidelli – they are not doing well this season – but what Peco did was amazing,” Ipargaro said on DAZN. Motosan.
He was 20th when his last attack was left on the last tyre. He was coming fast, but he made that mistake in the last sector, which cost him three or four tenths of a second, and then he gave up.
“I think if he had closed this lap he would have done it. But waiting until the last lap, when he’s pushing hard, shows he’s not comfortable making those kinds of mistakes. Or at least he’s on the edge of it.”
“Any small mistake or small problem on the bike will cause him to lose valuable time needed to get into Q2.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu in early contact with the Hungarian GP 💥 Surprised by his MotoGP mistakes?
Bagnaia struggled to catch up in practice at the Hungarian GP this Friday, sparking his troubled sessions and ultimately ending the day without an automatic place in Q2. Espargaro’s mistake was fortunate in avoiding a high position in practice.
Although Ducati GP26 riders Di Giannantonio and factory team-mate Marquez claimed the top seven positions in practice, Bagnaia was unable to get the bike’s record to show what he wanted. It resulted in several moments under braking and in chicanes that cost time.
The Hungarian GP is now Bagnaia’s third time to participate in Q1 this season, following the Thai GP and the Catalan GP. In both cases, the two-time MotoGP champion did not enter Q2, and qualified P13 in Buriram and Barcelona.
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