Bagnaia Shocked by Poor Performance in Sachsenring Sprint Race

Francesco Bagnaia expressed his shock after a poor showing in the wet Sachsenring sprint race — the Italian rider failed to score points despite avoiding any significant incidents.

The two-time world champion could only manage 12th place, while his Ducati teammate — Marc Marquez secured victory with a brilliant overtake on the final lap.

“After every session, I looked at the data of other riders to understand why I was losing two seconds every lap,” Bagnaia revealed. “Understanding the problem didn’t change anything throughout the day. I remained at the same level — slow.”

This poor performance aligned with his qualifying result — Bagnaia recorded the slowest time in Q2, placing him 11th on the grid.

“I’m very disappointed with today’s performance… I’m shocked by what I did. I can’t remember ever being this slow in wet conditions,” he added.

Bagnaia struggled with rear grip throughout the day, contrasting with his usual dry-weather issues related to front-end feel. Meanwhile, Marquez showed dominant form with a time advantage of nearly two seconds in qualifying and 1.2 seconds faster in the race despite using identical tire compounds.