Marco Bezzecchi
Davide Tardozzi admits that Ducati have not been able to help Francesco Bagnaia find the “confidence” he needs for the GP26, after crashing out of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Bagnaia crashed on Lap 11 of the Brazilian GP while running in 11th place behind LCR Honda star Johann Zarco. The two-time champion lost the front end of his Ducati GP26 mid-corner and he slid out of the race, marking his seventh retirement across the past nine Grands Prix.
Six of Bagnaia’s seven retirements starting from his DNF in the 2025 San Marino Grand Prix have also been due to crashes. It has only not been his fault when Bagnaia retired from the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a puncture in October, which denied him a likely podium finish.
Bagnaia’s plight at the Brazilian GP even originated in a crash during qualifying last Saturday in Goiania. In the same session that VR46 racer Fabio Di Giannantonio scored pole aboard a GP26, Bagnaia crashed in qualifying for the Brazilian GP and would only go on to clinch P11.
Francesco Bagnaia has only finished two of the past nine Grands Prix – How many DNFs will he record in 2026?
Davide Tardozzi admits Ducati have not helped Francesco Bagnaia find his ‘confidence’ in 2026
Bagnaia struggled to overtake Fermin Aldeguer during the Brazilian GP, as well, even though the Gresini star aboard a Ducati GP25 was making his return from injury. Aldeguer fractured his femur in January, and had not ridden a MotoGP bike since November, yet he finished P8.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Ducati team manager Tardozzi believes Bagnaia’s difficult Brazilian GP stemmed from having only qualified in P11. But the 29-year-old’s latest DNF was not “bad luck”, as Ducati have not been able to help him find the confidence he needs to make the GP26 work so far this term.
Tardozzi said, via quote by Motorsport.com: “It’s not bad luck. It’s a mistake stemming from the fact that we have not been able to give him the confidence he needs to race at his level.
“But he, himself, has admitted that the problem originates from his mistake in Saturday’s qualifying.”
What has Pecco Bagnaia said about his crash during the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix?
As Tardozzi claims, Bagnaia has admitted that his crash during qualifying for the Brazilian GP left him at a major disadvantage for the rest of the weekend in Goiania. But the Turin native does not think his race-ending crash on Sunday was tied to his crash during Q2 on Saturday.
Instead, much like Tardozzi notes, Bagnaia explained after the Brazilian GP that he does not currently feel comfortable aboard the GP26, which is preventing him from pushing the bike to its limits. Bagnaia also felt he was at the “mercy” of his bike, no matter where he started.
“Starting from the back isn’t ideal, but the way I crashed today has nothing to do with it,” he told Sky Sports Italy. “I was uncomfortable, I wasn’t able to push, and I didn’t have a good feeling. I just didn’t have any. I was at the mercy of the bike.
“Sooner or later, we’ll get back to where we need to be. We need to rebuild our speed, and it’s not an easy path. I made things difficult for myself in qualifying, but today in the race I would have struggled even starting from the front.”
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