Francesco Bagnaia has hit back at a video in which he appeared to claim Ducati was preventing him from fine-tuning his bike, insisting his comments were “completely taken out of context”.
After another disastrous race at Misano last weekend, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia was seen chatting with VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio in the TV pen, and Spanish broadcaster DAZN shared footage of what was supposed to be a private conversation between the pair.
Speaking in Italian, Di Giannantonio suggested that Bagnaia tried his bike set-up, which he described as very “basic”. The two-time MotoGP champion replied with “they won’t let me do it”, sparking a wave of comments on social media.
Arriving at the Red Bull Ring just days later for the Austrian Grand Prix, Bagnaia rejected suggestions that Ducati had failed to support him during his recent struggles, while criticising DAZN for publishing the footage.
“There have been many times where I have been asked if the team is supporting you, and I always said, ‘yes, the team is doing the maximum to help me’.
“What happened in the last race in Misano was a totally unrespected thing by DAZN, but it's what it is. The video that was recorded was out of context.
“We were speaking about a thing that is not completely secret, because we were speaking there [in a public setting]. But it's out of context, because the video is not complete. We were speaking about one more thing.
“And surely, the last word I said wasn't the correct one, but everybody has a difficult moment, everybody has frustration inside them, and sometimes you say things in the wrong way.”
Bagnaia then proceeded to clarify his comments, explaining that he had already tested several changes on the bike to address the rear-grip problems on his bike.
“What I meant is that I tried to put and remove the things many times already, that Ducati is not allowing me to do anymore, but just because I already did many times, and I don't want to continue this kind of thing,” he said.
“What was coming out of my mouth was in the wrong way. But then what happened next was a disaster for me, because it's completely out of respect.
“The relationship between journalists and riders needs to have respect inside. I think I've always been very kind to all of you. I've never been rude, I've never said anything wrong.
“I've tried to have a good relationship with everybody, because I know how important it is to have a good relationship with the journalists, just because you are the ones that speak to the world for us, and what happened for me is not correct.”
Bagnaia said his relationship with Ducati remains unchanged after he discussed the contents of the video with the management in the break after the San Marino GP.
“Yesterday, we spoke about it,” he revealed. “It's normal that it looks terrible in the way it appears on television.
“But they also have the interviews on Fridays and on Sundays, and what I said in both interviews is that Ducati supports me.
“So they [Ducati] know what I'm saying, they know that I'm not completely crazy, and I say sorry for the words that I said, but also I know how important the relationship is, and our relationship continues to be good, so nothing different from the past.”
