Marco Bezzecchi
Carlos Checa feels Francesco Bagnaia could have done more in the Sprint Race at the 2025 Czech Grand Prix after coming P7 after Ducati got his front tyre pressure wrong.
Front tyre pressures was the story of the day at the Automotodrom Brno this Saturday, after Ducati dropped the ball with Bagnaia and also Marc Marquez. Yet while the former fell like a stone, the latter responded to win the Sprint at the Czech GP in front of KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
Saturday started strongly for Ducati, as Bagnaia beat Marquez to pole position for the Czech GP thanks to the Spaniard crashing while on a faster lap. But the Bologna Bullets misjudged their riders’ front tyre pressures owing to their lack of data around a dry track from practice.
Marquez proved his intelligence to win the Czech Sprint despite his front tyre pressure issue, as he allowed Acosta through into the lead but clung onto the KTM rider’s exhaust to get his pressure back up. Bagnaia, on the other hand, lost all of his rhythm as soon as he backed off.
Carlos Checa feels Francesco Bagnaia will be ‘frustrated’ Raul Fernandez beat him in the Czech Sprint
Bagnaia was only 1.235s behind Marquez before the front tyre pressure warning light on the dashboard of his Ducati GP25 illuminated on Lap 5/10. But the 28-year-old finished 3.648s from his teammate, who received his front tyre pressure warning on L6 at Brno on Saturday.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Rival riders sniffed blood once Acosta rolled by Bagnaia, with Enea Bastianini of KTM Tech3 the first to punish the pilot whom he shared the Ducati garage with last year. Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse even overtook him.
Checa feels Bagnaia would have especially been ‘frustrated’ seeing Fernandez overtake him with ease at Turn 12 aboard an Aprilia RS-GP25 on the last lap of the Sprint at the Czech GP. The 24-year-old got the ideal run through T11 to dive up Bagnaia’s inside before he knew it.
“He had the same problem as Marc Marquez in terms of temperature,” Checa said on DAZN, via Motosan. “He lost pace, he let several riders pass, including Pedro Acosta, and that hurt him. He should have been more aggressive, like Marc did.
“Raul Fernandez overtook him at the end, something he didn’t expect, and that frustrated him because he lost positions that he perhaps could have defended. Even so, he qualified well [and] had a good race, but managing the tyre pressure affected everything.”
Raul Fernandez beat Pecco Bagnaia for his best Sprint Race result of 2025
Fernandez saw a chance to overtake Bagnaia on the final lap of the first-ever Sprint Race at the Czech GP and took it, without giving the factory Ducati rider a chance to respond in their fight for P7 at Brno. He eked out just enough of a gap to prevent a reply at Turns 13 and 14.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Raul Fernandez from net worth to career stats
Passing Bagnaia for P7 also ensures the Czech Sprint is Fernandez’s best Sprint finish this year. The 24-year-old had also only taken points in one Sprint Race during the 2025 MotoGP season before going to Brno, having come eighth in the Sprint Race at the Italian Grand Prix.
For Bagnaia, being beaten by Fernandez also means the 2022 and 2023 champion is now 156 points behind his Ducati teammate Marquez in the riders’ standings. The Italian will be desperate to now convert his pole for Sunday’s Czech GP into only his second win this year.
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