Silvan Guintoli thinks Francesco Bagnaia will not be able to deliver “under pressure” on the Ducati 2026 MotoGP bike, having seen his struggles in qualifying for the Thai Grand Prix.
Bagnaya It started in 2026. MotoGP season Almost at worst, he failed to make it past Q1 in the first qualifying session of the year at Buriram on Saturday. The 29-year-old’s Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse and Franco Morbidelli of VR46 have both fallen.
Fernandez set the pace in Q1 with a 1:28.784 to put Morbidelli in the lead. Ducati GP25 by 0.306s and Bagnaia in the factory Desmosedici GP26 by 0.564s. The Trackhouse ace also used his Q1 run to go ahead and qualify in P3, 0.224s clear of Marco Bezcicchi’s pole position.
Bezecichi scored a pole for the Thai GP With a 1:28.652, that was enough to deny Bagnaia factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez the pole by just 0.035 seconds. Marquez pulled one quick lap out of the bag late on, closing out the VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio P4 in GP26.
Marc Marquez got 0.035s off Marco Bezcicci’s Thailand GP pole position lap.
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Silvan Guintoli feels Francesco Bagnaia will not be able to deliver ‘under pressure’ at the Thai Grand Prix.
Gresini star Alex Marquez qualified P7 for the season opener. Thailand GP On his Ducati GP26. But later After failing to claim an automatic place in Q2 in Buriram, Baghia passed the restructuring decisions During practice, he couldn’t find the speed to walk and join the battle for the stick.
Read more: Everything you need to know about the 2026 MotoGP season, from the calendar to the drivers
Seeing Bagnaia fail to make a fast lap when it was important in Q1 left Guintoli Last year, Italy felt that the conflict still had not been resolved. His woes also bolster his belief that the Aprilia RS-GP has edged out the Ducati Desmosedici as MotoGP’s best bike.
Guintoli said. TNT Sports 2 (28/02, 04:13): “It’s very difficult. Like last year, Peko seems to be on the back foot again. We thought that he would solve the problems, and everything happened during the winter test in Sepang and here just last week.
“So when the pressure seems to be on, Peco just can’t deliver on that bike. When he tries to push the bike beyond the limit, he’s making things worse and colder. So I’d say Ducati is still there. He’s definitely still in the mix.”
“The big problem with Ducati is that Aprilia made a big jump. They made a big jump last year, and again in the winter (winter), they went to work and came here with solutions for that tire.
According to Paolo Bonora, they are here with better stability and better stability on the brakes, and all the riders are benefiting from that.
Peco Bagnaia paid the price for Ducati’s failure to adapt the Michelin treated rear tyre.
Bagnaia was one of the front-runners for the 2026 Sepang test, and his race performance has kept rival teams on the lookout. Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola suggested Ducati’s rivals could “go home” given Bagnaya’s pace at Sepang.only Alex Marquez’s race simulation is strong.
However, Bagnaia had to ensure that the 2026 campaign actually bounced back from the 2025 season when it started. The two-time champion fell to fifth in the MotoGP riders’ championship last season after failing to adapt to the Ducati 2025 special bike.
Read more: The best moments of Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP career
Francesco Bagnaia bows out in Q1 at the 2026 Thai Grand Prix!
Is Peco Bagnaia facing another season of woes at Ducati?
A setback in qualifying at Buriram suggests Bagnaya still has more work ahead of him. But Guintoli feels Bagnaia’s woes are probably down to Ducati still not getting used to the rear tyre. Michelin Unlike the Aprilia, it offers solutions to thermal challenges in hot conditions.
Guintoli (04:08): “Peco set a new lap record here two years ago in 28.7s, and he only did 29.3. That’s half a second slower.”
“Where did that go? You can see it on the track, he’s just struggling with the rear grip. Hanging the bike, he doesn’t get the rider out of the corner and he doesn’t get the lap time.”
“The Ducati sector is one okay. But as soon as you get into the twisty bits where you want to spin the bike, you need side grip to turn the bike. He’s hitting the corners. He can’t turn. Look at that,[he’s]running all over the place and he can’t do it.
“We got a new best bike in MotoGP this weekend, didn’t we? The Aprilia passed the Ducati pack. That to that rear tire, that special construction rear tire for hot conditions? Maybe. But the Aprilia looks great, and all the Ducati riders are struggling a bit.”
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