Bagnaia: “I was scared” after P1, turnaround “is the biggest I’ve ever had”

Competitive all season, Bagnaia was unusually out of sorts during Practice 1 for the Dutch MotoGP as he was struggling to stay on-track at different periods. 

Bagnaia went off on four occasions, the last of which led to him showing huge frustration whilst sitting aboard his machine. 

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After returning to pit lane on separate occasions, Bagnaia was visibly concerned as he and the factory Ducati team failed to address the issues.

Practice 2 started with the world champion still struggling, however, huge breakthroughs were made as the session went on, which is why the Italian was smiling when track action was over.

"I was quite scared this morning because the bike wasn’t working," said Bagnaia when speaking to MotoGP.com. "I was there fighting with it and it was shaking like crazy. 

"It was difficult to remain seated on the bike but we worked well this afternoon and we did, maybe the biggest step in front I’ve ever had. 

"I’m so happy, my team has done an incredible job. What I asked for they gave to me. We improved a lot. In terms of pace we were very competitive. 

"In time attack we can improve something but I’m happy. It’s very difficult to choose a tyre right now. All the three front tyres are not what I was expecting and the rear tyre is more slippery than last year."

Although Bagnaia was still playing catch up in terms of lap times come the end of the session compared to fellow Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi, the steps made, particularly in race trim showed once again why he should be in contention for victory.

Pressed further on the issues he was facing, Bagnaia stated: "In the morning I was struggling a lot. We managed to finish 12th without a time attack but doing that lap time was difficult. 

"When I started in the afternoon I was struggling a lot in the same way. But then we started making big steps with the bike. Not little adjustments. It was big differences."